He was playing for the National Team V USA the other night. I was quite surprised at my observation of the back of his Jersey!It said..... ....YAO M. Will we call him Yao?
I know his name is different than most people. You know, how Yao's his family name, and Ming is his name. (I think this is correct.) That's kind of like Ichiro. That looks like his "first name" (which it is.) but its on his jersey. (where usually "last names" are.) But I'm not to sure on this.
Ergh... the last time I want to say this: Yao is the last name, Ming is the first name. Putting family name in front of first name, that's the way all the Chinese, Korean and Japanese names are arranged.
Chinese is read from right to left only when it's printed vertically. When it's printed horizontally it's from left to right.
Ichiro is different. Other Japanese athletes have their last name on their jersey, ie Nomo, and Yoshii, and Irabu. Ichiro has his first name on his jersey cause he is just that damn good.
But who's right? As far as I know, the first name is the family name, or surname I believe, and the last name is that person's name. (Pretty much what Panda said.) Maybe they didn't do that because they didn't want confusion. I know I was confused when I kept hearing Ichiro Suzuki, but saw Ichiro on the jersey.
Panda : You missed the point!!! Of course his family name is first, he's Chinese! What I am trying to do is correct the mistake of others thinking that his family name is Ming..for example Francis,Mobley,Nachbar,Griffin and Ming instead of Francis,Mobley,Nachbar,Griffin and Yao or Steve,Catino,Bostjan,Eddie and Ming. I supose it boils down to each persons personal preference.
I call him by both. Sometimes I use Yao, and sometimes I use Ming. I'm starting to go with Yao since its shorter. I'm lazy. Good point. I thought you may have meant that, but wasn't sure. I've seen a bunch of questions about his name, and figured it was like those. Sorry.
That's kind of unfortunate, since Ming Yao doesn't flow as easily as Yao Ming. Maybe we can get him to change his first name to Boom.
Since Yao Ming is so short name (Shorter than: Tskitishvihli) On the Rox jersey.....there should be Yao Ming.
Actually, I think he means change the first, which comes last, not change the last, which comes first, and the first to last not last to first, last, first, first, last...WARNING! CORE MELTDOWN IMMINENT!
Ichiro has his name on his jersey because when he was playing in Japan, there were many "Suzuki's" on his team, so he or the team decided to go with "Ichiro" on his jersey to lessen the confusion.
I tell you what, there are a LOT of Ichiro's in Japan. More than Suzuki's. I'm TELLIN ya. Ichi in Japan means the number ONE. First born sons are OFTEN called Ichiro over there (I was born in Japan). My grandmother has called me Ichiro since the 60's. It is a WIDE spread name laced with rich, endearing meaning. Also it is VERY common. It is UNIQUE here, but it almost like *bubba* over there. Yao Ming is the correct ORDER in which to call out his name, much like it is correct to say Steve Nash. No one would say Nash Steve, and Ming Yao would not be said In China (if you want to sound Coherent).
Just like Wang Zhizhi. I'm sure many people knows what Wang means... Yao Ming can get an English name, many Hongkong people do. Like George Yao, or Nowwow Yao, or World-be-free Yao...whatever.
I don't think its the order that being "debated." Its just that their family name is first. You just look for the last name to know which one of the family it is. I think the talk is about whether to put his last name, (Ming) or his family name (Yao) on the jersey. I think I read somewhere that they would put both, but I'm not sure. BTW, just want to say I'm basing this on how I understand it. I'm by no means an expert.
