Chinese Names

China will have success in diving at the Olympics. We know that and as a result, whether in a listing of the results or in a story about the competition, their names will be listed (and frequently so if history tells us anything). And quite frankly, this is a troublesome spot because for us in English speaking countries, China does things a bit different than our western culture.

In China, and much of the Asian world, the family name is listed first and the given name second. So if my name - Woody Franklin, was spoken or listed using Chinese semantics; I would be known as Franklin Woody. So for the Chinese people the proper notation for diver Minxia Wu is not Wu Minxia, as I commonly refer to her.

Now comes the tricky part and this involves how Chinese divers are noted in the press. Chinese names are generally listed with the family name first and given name second unless they have westernized their names and then they are reversed, such as Jackie Chan whose real name is Chan Kong-sang. Since this site and blog is in English, and has an English speaking audience, I have always reversed the names and written in a style that uses the given name at times as you would in the English speaking world. It may not be following exactly the AP Stylebook or the Chicago Manual of Style, but I have endeavored to stay consistent which is important. Of course that all depends if you can figure out which is the family name and which is the given name!

So if you see some confusion, this might help to explain what you might attribute to dyslexia. Regardless of whether it is Minxia Wu or Wu Minxia, if she is listed with a "1." in front of her name that means she is the winner.

Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images