Hong Kong Blog 7: What's in a name?

Wednesday 20th May 2009

Blog Category: Hong Kong Blog

The name Hong Kong is Cantonese meaning Fragrant Harbour. People in Hong Kong speak Cantonese, which is different to Mainland China where they speak Mandarin.

We are working with people who have some very interesting names like Giraffe, Monster and Handsome. We asked them where they got their names. They said that at school they had to choose an English name when they were learning English. They decided to keep these names. Other people prefer to use their Chinese names and some people change their name depending who they are with.

When you translate Jez’s name into Cantonese it means ‘Duke Jazz’. Jez really likes this. When you translate Tim’s name into Cantonese it means, ‘more’ which is not very interesting. Tim decided that his Chinese name should be ‘Gorgeous’. No one has started calling him this yet!

Jez: Tim has brought a gong as a present for his family. It means he won’t have to shout their names up the stairs in the morning anymore.

Tim: It’s a Gong… from Hong Kong!

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