Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Pei-Chen Wu]

Hello! Good morning!
I'm Pei-Chen Wu. I'm confuesd about name question.
Usually,people in U.S.A or England or somewhere else are used to call somebody's first name first.
However,people in Taiwan and China put thier last name on first name, such as my name written in Chinese is Wu Pei-Chen.

Why are they different? Is there any reason?

Thank you for answering my question.

Best wish

Pei-Chen Wu

[CP]

Does your mother call you Wu or Pei-Chen? Probably she uses your given name, Pei-Chen, while nearly everyone else uses your family name, Wu.

In Britain, it is fairly common for people to address each other by their last names (family names), as in, "Hello, Robinson, what news?" But Robinson's brother would call him Cyril, or whatever.

In the U.S., if we use the family name, we usually use it with a title, as in, "Good morning, Mrs. Wright." But Mrs. Wright's father would call her Sally.

If we know the person well enough, we call him or her by the first name (given name): "Oh, Nancy, I found your keys."
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[CP]

So different cultures treat names differently. In some Asian cultures, they say the surname first, then the given name, often a two-name combination, hence Gong Li or Wu Pei-Chen. And they refer to the person mostly by the surname, Wu.

In most Western cultures, they say the given name first, sometimes followed by a middle name, then the surname, hence Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, or Pei-Chen Wu. And they refer to the person by the first name or the surname with title (personally) or just the surname (generally). We speak of Longfellow's poems, not Mr. Longfellow's poems, but when he was alive, people called him Henry or Mr. Longfellow.

In ancient Rome, people had three names: praenomen (pre-name, first name), nomen (given name), cognomen (surname, family name).

The emperor commonly known as Julius Caesar was actually named Gaius Julius Caesar, but called Julius by his friends and family, Caesar or Emperor Caesar by everyone else. (I don't think anyone ever said, "Mr. Caesar, your salad is ready.")

In Rome, people did not go by the first name, the praenomen, but by the middle name, the nomen. They used the full name only rarely, on solemn occasions--or probably when getting in trouble. Can't you imagine Caesar's mother catching him in some mischief as a child? "Gaius Julius Caesar! What are you doing with that slingshot?"
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb