What a company calls itself can make or break it within its native Chinese speaking target market. Find out here if your company is maximizing its potential.
Foreign companies seeking to carve out a Chinese identity select names using three basic approaches:
- Phonetic match only, e.g. Mài dāng láo 麦当劳 McDonalds
- Semantic match only, e.g. Wēi ruǎn 微软 Microsoft
- Phonetic and semantic, e.g. Kě kǒu kě lè 可口可乐 Coca-Cola
Generally speaking, consumers respond best to sound-alike names with embedded meanings conveying attractive brand values. That said, numerous companies opt to keep their English name (e.g.IBM) for prestige or ease of use. If translating doesn’t add value, why bother?
Here are some leading company names in Chinese, along with their literal meanings:
| Company Name | Chinese Name | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| BMW | Bǎo mǎ 宝马 | Treasure horse* |
| Coca-Cola | Kě kǒu kě lè 可口可乐 | Delicious happiness** |
| Liǎn shū 脸书 | Facebook*** | |
| Gǔ gē 谷歌 | Grain song | |
| Johnson & Johnson | Qiáng shēng 强生 | Strong born |
| Marriott | Wàn háo 万豪 | Ten thousand proud |
| Mazda | Mǎ zì dá 马自达 | Horse self reach |
| McDonald's | Mài dāng láo 麦当劳 | Wheat of course labor |
| Microsoft | Wēi ruǎn 微软 | Micro soft |
| Samsung | Sān xīng 三星 | Three stars |
| Siemens | Xī mén zi 西门子 | West door child |
| Sina | Xīn làng 新浪 | New wave |
| Toyota | Fēng tián 丰田 | Harvest field |
| Tuī tè 推特 | Push special | |
| Virgin | Wéi zhēn 维珍 | Maintain pearl |
| Volkswagen | Dà zhòng 大众 | Big crowd |
*Also called Bié mō wǒ 别摸我 (don’t touch me) for the “BMW” Pinyin initials in the Chinese comedy film Fēng kuáng de shí tou 疯狂的石头, aka Crazy Stone.
**Before Coca-Cola came up with arguably the best Chinese name of all time, they used to be called Kē dǒu kěn là 蝌蚪啃蜡 (tadpoles biting wax).
***Also called Fēi sǐ bù kě 非死不可 (must die or it’s not okay) by people looking for a phonetic match.
Secret discussions
Behind the scenes at China Simplified, we continue talking about whether or not we need a Chinese name, and if so, what should it be? Here’s a bit of our team banter on the subject:
Let’s definitely go for a sound-alike name.
I’m thinking Zhōng guó xīn pí fá 中国新皮筏.
“China New Kayaks”?
That name makes no sense.
Sounds like the word ‘simplified’ though.
They’ll think we’re selling water sports equipment.
Or maybe Zhōng guó xīn dú fǎ 中国新读法.
“New Way To Read About China”?
Will anyone get that?
They’ll think we’re speech therapists.
We need something more welcoming.
And not so stupid.
Let’s try for name meaning match instead.
Good idea, we’re all about meaningful things.
I thought we’re about not taking ourselves too seriously.
Okay, how about Zhōng guó bù nán 中国不难?
“China is not Difficult”?
Will anyone believe us?
Not likely.
And it misses the part about us being simplifiers.
Why don’t we call ourselves Zhōng guó bù jiǎn dān 中国不简单?
“China is not Simple”?
Nice reversal.
We are talking about one of the oldest civilizations in the world, after all.
Good point.
But will people get that we’re about making the culture more accessible?
And delivering a depth of insight, not dumbing it down?
Plus distilling it all in a time-friendly format?
Ah…no idea.
[silence]
This naming thing isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
As of the time of this post, we have not yet come to a consensus on a name for China Simplified Inc. We welcome your input!
I wanted to create my company name into Chinese whether can assist?
My company name is Globalize Certification
Regarding Chinese name for this site… 簡透中國
That’s a great suggestion! Thanks 🙂
Wouldn’t 谷歌 also render as “Valley Song”, thus double-entendre “Silicon Valley”?
Great article. Although I think the Facebook translation is now ‘脸谱’ and not ‘脸书’, according to the Baidu page.
Another recent translation I love is the Chinese translation for LinkedIn ‘领英’ (loosely translated by me as ‘outstanding leaders’) is not only phonetically similar to the original and denotes professionalism but also captures everyone’s deepest professional desire: to further one’s career. After all, that’s what networking’s all about. It hits upon one of the most powerful human motivations, which makes it all the more powerful.
Also – Starbucks as 星巴克 is another great example of a good translation.
Hi Lisa. Glad you enjoyed the article. I agree with everything you said about LinkedIn. Very interesting! It’s definitely something for us to add to the chart above.