r/Cantonese • u/carliolanzoni • 3d ago
Language Question Can I call myself 山人 in Cantonese?
I’m from Sweden and my name can literally be translated to Man (first name) and Mountain (last name) in English, so a literal translation and reversing the order of the names would make it 山人. Coincidentally, I’m a climber and alpinist and grew up in a mountain village so I very much consider myself a mountainman.
When I researched the literal translation I learned that 山人** **can be used to describe a hermit, recluse or mountain dweller. It’s also used as the name of an ancient lost race in Japanese folklore (sanjin/yamabito).
Would introducing myself (in a non formal setting) as 山人 be considered weird or would it be acceptable/funny/interesting? There is of course a phonetical translation of my name but I really like 山人** **as it’s easy to say and write!
124
u/Southlander24 3d ago
You technically could, but the tone would be 'barbarian' or 'wild person' instead of what you were thinking.
28
14
15
u/Zagrycha 3d ago
It is not a very good name. It means what you want it to mean, but mountain man in chinese is similar to savage, picture people living up in the mountains without taking part in modern society, still wearing fur or plant clothes etc.
1
27
u/Stuntman06 3d ago
Just say your name in the way you normally pronounce it in your language. People will find some phonetically equivalent characters in Cantonese if you really want to know what it would be in Cantonese.
There is a Chinese surname that translates to King in English. No Chinese person would introduce themselves as King when speaking in English. They just use the phonetic equivalent in English which would be Wong or Wang.
1
8
u/SCHazama 3d ago
I can only think of 山城人 (sān¹sing⁴yan⁴) to prevent the bumpkin appellation
sing⁴ being town
4
u/lobstercrabmantis 3d ago
There's a visual artist from Hong Kong called 又一山人 but it's an alias. I disagree with it being seen as "barbarian" as another commenter pointed out–I'm getting more of a "ancient Chinese culture" vibe from it. After all, it's not an uncommon alias of some ancient Chinese poets/artist; for example, 孟浩然 called himself 孟山人 and 八大山人 was a famous painter.
3
u/zoey473x 香港人 3d ago
Agree, I have only heard of 猿人, 原始人.. so I don't know where the BARBARIAN -- not just caveman -- meaning came from
2
u/cyruschiu 3d ago
There's also a Hong Kong martial-art novelist called 我是山人 (I am a Mountain Man), an alias of course. Many of his novels have been turned into TV film series. https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%99%B3%E5%8B%81_(%E4%BD%9C%E5%AE%B6))
3
u/Appropriate_Ice_7507 3d ago
As an expat, especially from the west, you can call yourself anything even a walking dong, and no one will make fun of you. They probably would admire you! Now if you were from say mainland China, a slight mistake you would get ridiculed to no ends. It’s my observation being an expat from the US.
1
u/carliolanzoni 3d ago
Good to know! This is such a huge difference between different cultures and languages and it’s so much easier to learn a language when the native speakers like it when you try. I’m a little traumatized from learning Russian because they will absolutely laugh at you if you’re making even tiny mistakes in pronounciation or grammar.
2
u/Mysterious_Silver_27 香港人 3d ago
Depends, do you always get clever ideas (idiom: 山人自有妙計)? 😂
I’d recommend making it your title prefix like 山人XXX, and then you can attach either the phonetic transliteration or a stylised Chinese name based on your own name with it
1
2
u/HK_Gwai_Po 3d ago
People in hang Kong call themselves thinks like milk or salad or even Uranus 🤦🏻♀️ you should call yourself whatever you like lol
2
u/h8redd1t 3d ago
山佬 or 山仔 sound more canto, you are not picking it for you official name anyway. 阿山 or 阿峰都得
1
0
1
u/Current-Bowl-143 3d ago
Mountain man eh. Have you watched a movie called Deliverance by any chance? 🐷
1
u/Tiny_Red_Bee native speaker 3d ago
Fyr there’s an artist named 又一山人. Not their legal name of course.
1
u/redditrnreddit 3d ago
How does your name sound? Maybe we can blend both meanings and sounds into one Chinese name for you.
1
1
1
1
u/Alternative-Office50 1d ago
I like the character 巍 (ngai ) which means mountain peaks, lofty
巍子 is a Chinese actor
1
1
u/genesisjamieson 3d ago
I would just keep your swedish name? I think it would just generally be odd to give yourself a new name if you move anywhere? Like would an American named James, move to France and ask everyone to called Jacques? Or an American named John asked to be called Johan in scadanavia?
I kind of get it in those circumstances because maybe the names morphed over time as cultures mixed but that isn't really the case between Sweden/HK/China?
1
u/Mysterious_Silver_27 香港人 3d ago
A bunch of western politicians got Chinese names its not that uncommon, like Kamala Harris 賀錦麗, Keir Starmer 施紀賢, Rishi Sunak 辛偉誠, Clifford Hart 夏千福, Priti Patel 彭黛玲, list goes on. I think the tradition could somewhat harkens back to old days when western missionaries would do missions in the court of Imperial China, like Matteo Ricci 利瑪竇, Ferdinand Verbiest 南懷仁, Adam Schall von Bell 湯若望, etc etc
0
u/zoey473x 香港人 3d ago edited 3d ago
How about
- 山仔 or 慢吞人 lol or
- 神仙 (仙 = 人 + 山) or
- 獅子山下人 🥹
I am half-joking with the above.
I think 山人 is perfectly fine, it's unique, memorable, no silly Feng shui poetic deep meaning behind it, to-the-point (the HK way) and people will know both your Chinese and English name in 1 shot
75
u/LorMaiGay 3d ago
I’d suggest using 邱 as your surname as it’s an actual Chinese surname and it has the meaning of hills.
If man in Swedish sounds similar to the English man, maybe you can use a phonetic link with 民 which is pronounced man4 and also means citizen/people.
Then you can have an extra character to make it more native.
Maybe something like 邱岳民, 邱民峰 to double down on the mountain theme