Talk:Figure skating

Regarding Chen Lu: Chen's surname is 'Chen'. Her given name is 'Lu'. She should be alphabetized under her surname like the other skaters, which means under 'C'. Her name is 'Chen Lu', not 'Lu Chen', so the listing should say 'Chen Lu', not 'Lu Chen'. Dominus 13:26 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Well, if this is the English wiki and all, here in English we have a very established convention that family names come after first names; which would make her name Lu Chen. Pizza Puzzle

Just because we have an established convention that english family names come after given names doesn't mean we need to impose that convention on others. A person's name is important to them. Theresa knott 13:55 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Nobody is imposing a name upon Lu; Lu and Chen are two seperate names; it is not a matter of cultural difference, it is a matter of beauraucratic difference. There needs to be a way to list names that is uniform - in the west we put the last name last; they do it differently elsewhere. But we must preserve uniformity; otherwise, Lus name will be changed; people will continue to insist that her first name is Chen; afterall, it is listed first. Pizza Puzzle

I do see your point. But I do think that how a name ordered is important. My name is Theresa Knott. In that order. The Theresa and the Knott aren't two seperate names, they are two parts of the same name. Lu's name is Chen Lu. It is how she is known. If we change her name to Lu Chen people will assume it's a different skater. Theresa knott 14:30 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

All I can say is WTF. So her last name is Chen but her first name is Lu. But she likes to be called Chen Lu. Can someone show proof that her last name is in fact Chen. I have never met a Chinese person who called themselves <surname> <firstname>. I have met Chinese people who told English people to call them by their last name, for example, Zhizhong Yan, we just call him Yan, but everyone knows that his real first name is Zhizhong. Can someone explain why she orders her name different, or explain how you know that her last name is Chen, and not Lu. Let's stick it under "L" so that dumb English people who assume her last name is "Lu" will find it under "L". dave 15:09 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

In China, Japan, and in many Asian countries, the order of the name is <family name> <personal name>. Most commonly, if a person naturalizes to an english speaking country, they will switch the order of their names (i.e. Japanese Pop star Utada Hikaru, who is known as Hikaru Utada in Japan). However, a person should be refered to however they wish, according to their culture; consider basketball superstar Yao Ming. Yao is his family name (you can verify this because his father's name is Yao Zhiyuan[?]. As you can see, the basketball press correctly identify him as "Yao Ming", even though his basketball jersey, which traditionally has last names, reads "Yao". There is no problem here. The correct format here is to alphabetize her under the letter 'C', but list her name as "Chen Lu". -DropDeadGorgias 15:53 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The Chicago Manual of Style suggests just this solution (#18.113): "Chinese personal names generally consist of three syllables, the one syllable family name coming first, the two-syllable given name following. In romanized form both names are capitalized; in the Wade-Giles system the given name is hyphenated, in pinyin, closed up." (examples given) "When alphabetizing Chinese names that are written in traditional form, with family name first, do not invert, and use no commas." 118.114: "Some Chinese names consist of only two syllables....These names too should be alphabetized without inversion." -- Someone else 17:49 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)