Good Characters, Inc. Blog

• 雀 (que) is a sparrow.
• 巢 (chao) is a nest.
• 咖啡 (ka fei) is coffee.

This translated name literally means “Sparrow’s nest coffee,” a name that makes more sense once you realize its parent company is Nestle, a German dialect surname meaning small nest. With a “nest” being a home in which nurturing is provided, these are welcome associations for this brand.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Nescafe News  

百事 (bai shi), meaning hundreds of things or everything, is the Chinese transliterated name for Pepsi.

• 百 (bai) is a hundred or numerous.
• 事 (shi) matter, circumstance, event, or occurrence.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Pepsi News  

The transliterated Chinese name for Merrill Lynch is 美林 (mei lin).

• 美 (mei) is beauty, beautiful, or pretty.
• 林 (lin) is a forest.

Mei Lin, literally means a beautiful forest—a good metaphorical association. Wouldn’t you want your financial portfolio to grow strong and robust like a beautiful forest?

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Merrill Lynch News  

三星, pronounced sam sung in Korean and san xing in Chinese, literally means three stars or “tristar”.

• 三 (san) is three.
• 星 (xing) is a star.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Samsung News   

本田 is pronounced hon da in Japanese and ben tian in Chinese. 

• 本 (ben) is the origin, the source, or one’s own.
• 田 (tian) is farmland or field.

Similar to Toyota, this company’s name is inspired by its founder Soichiro Honda.

Because Honda is a Japanese surname associated with good meanings, a Chinese person may link this name with “Japanese quality”.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Honda News   

• 思 (si) is to think, to consider, or can refer to a thought.
• 科 (ke) is science.

思科 (si ke), literally means thinking about science. This is an appropriate, unique, and matching transliteration for a high tech company like Cisco.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Cisco News 

The Chinese transliterated name for Louis Vuitton is 路易 威登 (lu yi wei deng).

• 路 (lu) is a path or a route.
• 易 (yi) means easy, friendly, or to change.
• 威 (wei) is might, force, or power.
• 登 (deng) is to mount, to ascend, or to climb.

Perhaps because of our learned history regarding King Louis X VI, 路易 (lu yi), as Louis is translated, has associations with royalty or of relating to a king. 威登 (wei deng) implies being powerful and hints at stepping up to the upper class. This luxurious sounding name is precisely the image associated with Louis Vuitton.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition LV News 

• 吉 (ji) means auspicious, lucky, or something favorable.
• 列 (lie) means to line up, to arrange, or to make into a list.

The Chinese transliteration for Gillette is 吉列 (ji lie, pronounced gee-lee-eh). In Taiwan, Gillette used to be known as 吉利 (ji li), an existing Chinese term meaning auspicious. Either way, Gillette’s name captures the lining up of luck and favor.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition Gillette News 

• 宝 (bao) means treasure or of high value.
• 马 (ma) is a horse.

BMW’s Chinese transliterated name, 宝马 (bao ma, pronounced bow mah), literally means, a treasured horse. This is like an imperial Chinese royalty’s way of saying, “The Ultimate Driving Machine”; imagine that.

Link: WSJ Chinese Edition BMW News

American Express, translated for meaning, is 美国运通 (mei guo yun tong, pronounced may guo ywun tohng).

美 (mei) is beauty, beautiful, or pretty.
国 (guo) is a country, a nation, or a state.
美国 (mei guo) is the translation for the United States of America.

运 (yun) is to transport. It can also be luck or fate.
通 (tong) means unobstructed, through, to lead to, or to communicate.
运通 (yun tong) doesn’t really mean express but it conveys the idea of going through without obstacles. Another good thing about this name is that 运通 (yun tong) can also be interpreted as having good fortune or good luck.

Link: American Express News - WSJ Chinese