Ao Xingtao HZ002

Here is the name of my male character in my film/story/series.

His name is 敖兴涛 Áo Xìngtāo (Ow Sching-tao)
It was an INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TASK just to come up with this name! I went through SEVERAL tries trying to get a name for him that I was satisfied with. Taoism has all kinds of rules, and I'm so ignorant and bewildered....

it took me YEARS to come up with a name I was happy with, because I always felt bothered, guilty, dissatisfied, or unsatisfied with his name.

I'm actually happy I've gotten VERY POSITIVE feedback over this choice of name from native persons I actually know, and strangers, from China, including picky persons.

I was so scared of getting hateful or spiteful backlash over this, and it was killing me inside.

It's form my "dragon story project" (Zenith Beyond Eclipsing The Dragon's Rue).

I don't know the best way to explain the translation of 兴涛 to English but Xingtao means kind of like a wave of information or knowledge. There are so many ways to translate this because its so meaningful and never quite mean exactly what it means in Chinese. It's one of those things about the Chinese language dating back to ancient times where you only use a few small words but have a giant in depth meaning, like a speck of a poem or a phrase that speaks volumes. It doesn't quite mean tsunami, and it doesn't quite mean "in the know". But, if you were to think of this person as someone like a tech, IT, programmer, scholar, or engineer, then this makes sense. But, it would also imply a robustness.

I also chose the surname 敖 "Ao" because its the surname of the Ocean Dragon kings in ancient culture. (封神榜)

These are The Dragon Kings of the 4 Seas:
敖廣 Ao Guang
敖欽 Ao Qin
敖閏 Ao Run (Western Sea)
敖順 Ao Shun

So, this adds to the whole "flow" and "water" of the theme, plus the "dragon" aspect.

And, the pronunciation of the name 敖兴涛 (Áo Xìngtāo) I felt had a nice ring to it. The tones also go up, then down, then flatten out.... which is like him, he's up, down, then center. It's much much better than all the other names I had for him.

This character also has an introvert side, and an extrovert side, and many many secrets.

The program I used to create this is found here: www.chinesetools.eu/tools/chin…

But, I had to reformat, edit, and rework the graphic to look & feel aesthetically pleasing.

This character is one of the few characters with such a thoroughly thought out name. The main dragon character does, Lively was also a rather thought out name, and I will also be reworking the main villain/antagonist's name.