Many Chinese companies use acronym domain names for their company websites. So, if you already have an acronym domain name, how do you translate it to potential company names? In this post, I’ll chart the translations of single letters A to Z into possible Chinese meanings that you can use as building blocks to create acronym domain names.
An acronym domain name that matches a company’s name is short and easy for consumers to remember. It enables consumers to go directly to the company's website without the assistance of search engines. For example, the Nasdaq listed company Jing Dong (京东) uses the acronym JD.com for their compay website. Jing Dong has discovered enormous value in the domain after they upgraded from 360buy.com to JD.com in 2012, saving USD $20 million each year in search engine advertising, which more than covers the USD $3 million they paid for the domain name. Because companies can save money on search engine advertising, single-letter, 2-letter, and 3-letter .com domain names are considered very valuable in China.
An acronym domain name is formed by taking the first letter of each Pinyin word that corresponds to the Chinese name. Pinyin is the translation of Chinese characters into Roman letters. Continuing the previous example, the Pinyin words for 京东 are Jing Dong, which becomes the acronym JD. As a side note, the two Chinese characters for Jing Dong (京东) mean "Capital" and "East" and are taken from the names of the founder and his former girlfriend.
I have already written a blog post on How to Find Acronyms for Chinese Pinyin Domain Names that tells you how to create an acronym. In this post, I'm looking at the problem from the opposite end, providing a chart of meanings of single letters A to Z to help you translate acronym names that you may already have to company names with meanings.
Here is the chart of letters from A to Z:
* Letter does not represent the first letter of any Pinyin word; translation technique explained below.
By combining single letters in the chart, we can construct an acronym consisting of multiple letters with meaning. However, this exercise is easiest if you have an understanding of the Chinese language. Google Translate may help as well. Here are some examples:
Certain Pinyin letters have lexical limitations, as well. Among the letters a, e, i, o, u, v, the letters i, u, and v cannot serve as the first letter of a Pinyin word. The letters a, e, and o can serve as the first letter of a Pinyin word, but their use is quite limited because of the small number of Pinyin words that they can represent. However, some companies creatively get around these rules by applying a “translation” technique.
The “translation” technique is not an exact science, but more of a creative skill. The way it works is by finding a meaningful Chinese word or phrase that rhymes with or sounds similar to a letter as it is pronounced in Mandarin. In the following cases, i sounds like “An” (安), u like “You” (优), and v like “Wei” (微) to form the acronym domains ibw.cn (安徽百度网), uuo.cn (优悠科技), and vmw.cn (微脉网).
I hope this blog post has given you a basic understanding of the relationship between acronyms and Pinyin words. In a future post, I'll focus on the techniques that I use to translate acronym domain names consisting of two or more letters.
Previous: Your Guide to Chinese Domain Names: From 0 to 99
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Follow me to learn more about Chinese domain names.
@Cynthia helped me understand some of the intricacies of Pinyin. Special thanks go to the NamePros editing team for their great support.
An acronym domain name that matches a company’s name is short and easy for consumers to remember. It enables consumers to go directly to the company's website without the assistance of search engines. For example, the Nasdaq listed company Jing Dong (京东) uses the acronym JD.com for their compay website. Jing Dong has discovered enormous value in the domain after they upgraded from 360buy.com to JD.com in 2012, saving USD $20 million each year in search engine advertising, which more than covers the USD $3 million they paid for the domain name. Because companies can save money on search engine advertising, single-letter, 2-letter, and 3-letter .com domain names are considered very valuable in China.
An acronym domain name is formed by taking the first letter of each Pinyin word that corresponds to the Chinese name. Pinyin is the translation of Chinese characters into Roman letters. Continuing the previous example, the Pinyin words for 京东 are Jing Dong, which becomes the acronym JD. As a side note, the two Chinese characters for Jing Dong (京东) mean "Capital" and "East" and are taken from the names of the founder and his former girlfriend.
I have already written a blog post on How to Find Acronyms for Chinese Pinyin Domain Names that tells you how to create an acronym. In this post, I'm looking at the problem from the opposite end, providing a chart of meanings of single letters A to Z to help you translate acronym names that you may already have to company names with meanings.
Here is the chart of letters from A to Z:
| Letter | Pinyin | Chinese | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ai | 啊 | Oh! |
| B | Ba | 爸 | Father |
| C | Che | 车 | Car |
| D | Dai | 贷 | Lend |
| E | Er | 耳 | Ear |
| F | Fu | 富 | Wealth |
| G | Gou | 狗 | Dog |
| H | Hua | 花 | Flower |
| I* | An | 安 | Safe |
| J | Jiu | 酒 | Wine |
| K | Kuai | 快 | Fast |
| L | Le | 乐 | Fun |
| M | Mao | 猫 | Cat |
| N | Nan | 男 | Man |
| O | Ou | 欧 | Europe |
| P | Pao | 跑 | Run |
| Q | Qian | 钱 | Money |
| R | Ren | 人 | People |
| S | Shang | 商 | Business |
| T | Tian | 甜 | Sweet |
| U* | You | 优 | Excellent |
| V* | Wei | 微 | Tiny |
| W | Wang | 网 | Net |
| X | Xiao | 笑 | Smile |
| Y | Ying | 赢 | Win |
| Z | Zu | 租 | Rent |
By combining single letters in the chart, we can construct an acronym consisting of multiple letters with meaning. However, this exercise is easiest if you have an understanding of the Chinese language. Google Translate may help as well. Here are some examples:
- S (商 business) + R (人 people) = SR (商人 merchants).
- For comparison, using Google Translate on 商人 produces: businessman, merchant, trader.
- Z (租 rent) + C (车 car) + W (网 net) = ZCW (租车网 rental car network).
- For comparison, using Google Translate on 租车网 produces: Car Rental Network
- F (富 wealth) + G (狗 dog) + T (甜 sweet) + M (猫 cat) = FGTM (富狗甜猫 wealthy dog sweet cat).
Certain Pinyin letters have lexical limitations, as well. Among the letters a, e, i, o, u, v, the letters i, u, and v cannot serve as the first letter of a Pinyin word. The letters a, e, and o can serve as the first letter of a Pinyin word, but their use is quite limited because of the small number of Pinyin words that they can represent. However, some companies creatively get around these rules by applying a “translation” technique.
The “translation” technique is not an exact science, but more of a creative skill. The way it works is by finding a meaningful Chinese word or phrase that rhymes with or sounds similar to a letter as it is pronounced in Mandarin. In the following cases, i sounds like “An” (安), u like “You” (优), and v like “Wei” (微) to form the acronym domains ibw.cn (安徽百度网), uuo.cn (优悠科技), and vmw.cn (微脉网).
I hope this blog post has given you a basic understanding of the relationship between acronyms and Pinyin words. In a future post, I'll focus on the techniques that I use to translate acronym domain names consisting of two or more letters.
Previous: Your Guide to Chinese Domain Names: From 0 to 99
---
Follow me to learn more about Chinese domain names.
@Cynthia helped me understand some of the intricacies of Pinyin. Special thanks go to the NamePros editing team for their great support.
