How to translate your name to Chinese? --or-- How to pick a Chinese name for yourself?

Say you are learning Chinese or visiting China (or Taiwan or any other place where Chinese is spoken). Why would you want to have a Chinese name in the first place?

• First, because in speaking Chinese, the language flows much easier when it is not interrupted by foreign-language names. Even if you only learn very few traveler's phrases, it will be easier to say them when there a all-Chinese and not interrupted by a foreign-language name: Wô jiào Xiàofeng, ni3 ne?
• Second, I don't like things pronounced wrong and it is easier for me to learn how to pronounce my Chinese name, then to teach everybody how to pronounce my foreign-language name. Besides I am guest in the country and it's better I adapt then ask people to adapt. (Now I know some people don't care about wrong pronunciations and will come to the habit to see their wrongly-pronounced foreign-language name as some kind of Chinese name. I think that's exactly how pidgin-languages are formed. But I don't like pidgins. I think we can make an effort to speak two languages properly! And I am willing to do my part of it.)
• Third, having a Chinese name makes it possible for Chinese people to read it from the written form, and instantly recognize the spoken form as a name. (Of course, the name must be recognizable as a name and not something entirely made-up.)

So, now how do you pick a name? Here are some ground rules:

First, choose the name from a set of existing names, so that people will recognise it as a name and not think of something else. It is possible to make up a new name (that is, one not in common use in the Chinese language yet), but this requires excellent language skills and talent to a level that even many native speakers don't have.

Second, when you have found a name, make sure you ask some friends about it, to check what connotations it has. Some very old names might not be thought of as names any more and rather be allusions to some historic concepts and event. You might be lucky and pick a name that signifies historic beauty and bravery (maybe at the expense of sounding fulsome and corny), but you might also have picked a name that stands for historic treason (such as 吳三桂), which is really unacceptable (or at least ridiculously strange).
Furthermore, your potential name might be shared by a contemporary public figure, which can play in your favor if it is a well-liked person or somebody, but it also can badly backfire if the name is shared by a famously corrupt politician or an actress know for sleeping her way up. You can easily avoid this embarrassment by asking a few Chinese people first. But ask people from the place you are going to, since Chinese from another place might not know the local celebrities. (For example, overseas-Chinese share a common history, but often don't share the common affairs with the mainlanders.)
Finally, asking for name feedback will help avoid having a name that is really a good name by itself but whose pronunciation is the same as some other thing that you really don't want to be associated with. This is especially important since your pronunciation might be a "little bit wrong" or ambiguous. If there is a word with very similar pronunciation you at least want to be aware of it and take care to pronounce your name so it clearly does not sound like that thing.

Third, and last, ground rule, it never hurts to ask your Chinese teacher or any other well-educated person about a name that you have in mind. People who are professionals in language (or at least very interested in language and culture) often have some additional information about names and their meaning. For example, only a few people knew of the Kung-Fu relation of my name and only one person actually knew the author of the famous Kung-Fu novels which use the name.

So, after reading those basic rules you wonder where to get a name from in the first place. Here are the possibilities:

• Transliterate your name.
• Translate the meaning of your name.
• Pick a name from a list that sounds nice.
• Pick a name from a celebrity or historical person or fictional person which you like or revere.
• Pick a name which in some way describes you.
• Just ask a friend whom you like to give you a name.

Now, here's what the means in detail:
Transliterate your name. This means you simply pick some Chinese characters that are pronounced similar to your foreign-language name. Usually anybody who can write Chinese can do this for you, but the better educated they are the more likely it is they will choose characters with fitting (and positive!) connotation. This transliteration might end up with a name that is also a proper Chinese first name, or it might end up with a character combination that is not used as such. Then people seeing will usually deduce that it is some kind of transliterated foreign name.
Furthermore there are some foreign names, especially English names and those of foreign public or historic figures who have already been transliterated and for which one transliteration has become standard. A typical example is the name David, whose standard Chinese form is 大卫/大衛 (simplified/tranditional). Other typical examples are the first names of American presidents and famous actors. If, for example, you pick the standard translation of George (乔治), the Chinese will link you to George Bush and George Clooney. If on the other hand, you don't want to be linked to those people, you can intentionally choose a non-standard transliteration which gives you a different Chinese name that it still linked to your name, George.

Translate the meaning of your name. This is a very interesting way, because most Westeners don't think of their names as having meaning or at least not as much as Chinese names have.
But what is the meaning of a name? It can be the name's origin, it can be it's connotations. Many Western names are of biblical origin or go back to some king or queen. Others originally were descriptive of desired qualities -- just as Chinese names are! It is certainly worth looking up the etymology of your name to provide you with input for your name choosing. Once you know about your own name, you can ask Chinese people for Chinese names of similar meanings or origin.

Picking a name from a list. I think you should at least be familiar with some common, popular names to get a feeling for their sound and structure. A simple list with popular names is easy to find (TODO: where did I bookmark that link... can anybody help?) If the list contains notes about the name connotations even better. But once you know a little Chinese, you can also look up the characters in a dictionary.

Picking a name that describes you. There are countless of names that allude to beauty, filial piety, studiousness and all the other traditional Chinese virtues. A friend of mine is 静 (meaning: "calm") and she really is a quite girl (now a woman). It will be harder to find a name that represents a Western virtue such as "confidence" -- boo!, we Chinese want "modesty"! If you want to pick a name for yourself rather look out for which Chinese virtues you represent (or revere) and pick reflecting those. It will be a more natural Chinese name than translating Western concepts which do not exist in China.

Picking a name that sounds well. Obviously you need to pronounce it correctly. If you don't know much Chinese, best thing is to have it read by a friend. Also make sure that you pronounce your name well. If it is too difficult too pronounce for you, rather pick something different!

All of these sources can be used together. In fact, you will want to have a name that sounds well and has a nice, fitting meaning.

Finally I shall say where my own Chinese name comes from. My Chinese family name in traditional characters is 衛 (the simplified is plainly 卫) and it is a transliteration. The character 衛/卫 is often used for transliteration. It is also used as a family name in China. So it is easy to recognize as a name and still links to my family well.
My first name is 啸风 which I picked from a Chinese pirate character in one of my favorite movies. The individual characters have nice, powerful meanings (风 means wind, 啸 is used to write several different words, one of them being Tsunami) and the name itself is also used in some Kungfu novels. This name expresses my energy to stir things up and also my love for the sea.
Before I went to Taiwan and when I didn't know much Chinese I used the names 小虎 (from a Kungfu movie made by my favorite director) and, later, 小猴. The latter refers to my birth year, which is a year of the monkey. It also portrays me as me being a cute little guy. I don't like that so much any more, but would accept being called so by very close friends (and my lover).
Finally, there is one transliteration of my Western first name which I like a lot: 萝卜, which means Raddish. I like this because I like to eat 萝卜糕. It's also fun because it can be combined with the imaginary family name 白 to yield 白萝卜 which is even more precisely a vegetable: White Raddish (Daikon or Japanese Raddish in English).

As you can see, names can be a lot of fun. A way to define and extend your identity. Don't waste the opportunity to get a little closer to the Chinese culture. Pick a Chinese name for yourself!