Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 April 16

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April 16

"Ah" name prefix in Singapore 1960s

Not sure if this is the right desk for this question. In the early 1960s I lived in Singapore. I recall there were servants who all had names beginning with "Ah": Ah Wong, Ah Jee, Ah Jun, Ah Ma, Ah Ing. I've tried to find out what the "Ah" means and have had no luck. Is it a gender-neutral equivalent of "Mr" or "Ms"? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 21:22, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

It's the Chinese character 阿 (ā). Yes, it's gender-neutral, but it's not formal although the names that follow are usually surnames. You must be somewhat close to that person. --Explosivo (talk) 00:06, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks -- that sounds like the answer I was looking for. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:05, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

These look like Chinese names. Isn't the surname stated first by Chinese? Akld guy (talk) 00:49, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Copied from 阿 at Wiktionary: "Used in front of persons' given names or kinship terms to express familiarity (traditionally in rural or southern Chinese dialects". See Chen Shui-bian.--Shirt58 (talk) 02:18, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

There's a famous literary work, "The True Story of Ah Q"... AnonMoos (talk) 09:14, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

During a visit from China I heard Gladys Aylward preach at evensong one Sunday in a local church. The locals referred to her as Ài Wěi Dé, a play on her surname meaning "the virtuous one". Looking at the Chinese characters the first part appears to be different from what is described above. Are there any other examples of the transliteration of someone's name into another language reflecting their character? Our article could do with some work, as it repeats this information in two successive paragraphs. 86.176.19.41 (talk) 11:43, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

It's not clear what article you are referring to.

As for non-phonological adaptations of people's names, Chinese has several of these. Off the top of my head, Britney Spears is often called 小甜甜. rʨanaɢ (talk) 12:24, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

I've deleted the repetition. 86.176.19.41 (talk) 13:01, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

As a holdover from colonial days, the British government still invents non-transliterative official Chinese names for all senior British government officials (though mostly used only in Britain itself and in Hong Kong - the mainland Chinese press uses transliterations). Theresa May is officially 文翠珊, where the first character sound vaguely like her surname and the second and third sound vaguely like her given name, and mean "Literary", "Brilliant" and "Coral" respectively. The first character is also an existing Chinese surname. Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, was 彭定康, where the first two characters sound vaugely like his surname and the third sounds vaguely like his given name. The first character is an existing Chinese surname. The second and third characters mean "To pacify / stabilise" and "Wellness" respectively. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 12:35, 18 April 2017 (UTC)