<P> Most Chinese given names are two characters long and--despite the examples above--the two characters together may mean nothing at all . Instead, they may be selected to include particular sounds, tones, or radicals; to balance the Chinese elements of a child's birth chart; or to honor a generation poem handed down through the family for centuries . Traditionally, it is considered an affront and not an honor to have a newborn named after an older relative, so that full names are rarely passed down through a family in the manner of American English Seniors, Juniors, III, etc . Similarly, it is considered disadvantageous for the child to bear a name already made famous by someone else, although Romanizations might be identical or a common name like Liu Xiang might be borne by tens of thousands . </P> <P> Korean names and Vietnamese names are often simply conventions derived from Classical Chinese counterparts . </P> <P> Many female Japanese names end in - ko (子), meaning "child". This can make them seem decidedly unfeminine to Europeans accustomed to Indo - European tendencies to end masculine names in o . </P> <P> In many Westernised Asian locations, many Asians also have an unofficial or even registered Western (typically English) given name, in addition to their Asian given name . This is also true for Asian students at colleges in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia as well as among international businesspeople . </P>

Who was given first and middle names at birth