It's not uncommon for people from the Chinese-speaking world to have two different names - a Chinese and a Western one. ... Although the practice can be observed more in the Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, it is not uncommon in Mandarin-speaking mainland China and Taiwan.

Why do Chinese have two names?

Chinese name usually consists of three characters, one for family name and two for first name. When someone calls you by just two characters, the first name, it means he/she is very close to you. ... Therefore, I, as an example, would prefer to use English name the first time I meet new people.

How many names does a Chinese person have?

Family Name

Altogether some 22,000 family names have been used in China but over time, some of them have become reserved and only 3,500 are commonly used nowadays.