dont know if this has been posted already. apologies if it has. but can anyone answer to me why cbs sportsline lists 'yao ming'as 'ming yao'. i also noticed that his name on his jersy is yao. and not ming. what is his first name? and what is his last name?
Chinese put the surname in the first, and the first name in the second. So in China, you can only call him "Yao Ming". But I think he just changed the sequence of his name for the westerners, complying with the western habit.
Um... not exactly. For all you guys who are getting sooooooo picky about this, here's the truth: The words "first" and "last" have no meaning except in reference to the *position* of the names. Because "Yao" comes before "Ming," "Yao" is his FIRST name. Pretty simple. We call the given name the "first" name because in our culture it *is* the first name. The big guy's surname is Yao and his given name is Ming. Don't confuse that with "last" and "first." Picky enough for ya?
Yao is his family name, Ming is his given name. It makes more since to say Yao than Ming, and heck, it sounds better and looks cooler on a jersey!!!
Well then go submit your questions in the Feedback section; there's a thread about this. If you can think of FAQ, submit them. The sooner the better.
Everywhere makes mistake on Yao Ming's name. NBA.com,yahoo,espn, rockets.com,even clutch city , listed him as Y. Ming., Mr. Ming, Ming...and so on
But Yao Ming, Ming Yao, M. Yao, .....are not his name anyway. His name should only be expressed in chinese. Yao Bright is more like his name.
Hey topfive I just tried to make the post simple to understand, I mean when we tell the people at the DPS office where his name goes on his driver licence we are not going to say ok his surname is this so it goes here then ok family name goes their to the DPS worker. Just last name Yao first name Ming would do and its simple and to the point
In fact, I bet Yao Ming would not mind if you call him Yao or Ming. Everyone knows that both refer to him.