how to write 'Sabine Cheng' in hanzi? :D?

[alexseanchai]

Here I am using a super reliable method of figuring out which Chinese characters ML's various instances of tone-marker-less Pinyin in people's names refer to, which I call "poke English-language Wiktionary and hope". I would deeply, deeply appreciate any Mandarin speakers' input.

So none of the characters listed as having a Pinyin transliteration of chēng, chèng, or chěng have among their listed definitions "A surname". I am therefore confident that the 'Cheng' in 'Sabine Cheng' and 'Marinette Dupain-Cheng' is one of those at chéng.

That only narrows it down to eight possibilities. All of which should probably be written in Simplified Chinese because Shanghai is part of mainland China, but are presented here in Traditional Chinese because how Wiktionary arranges things:

• 程 chéng
  1. weights and measures; measurements of all kinds
  2. rules; regulations
  3. model; law; standard
  4. limit; limitation; quota; norm
  5. period of time; time
  6. schedule; agenda; order
  7. stage of a journey
  8. journey; trip; distance travelled
  9. procedure; process; course
  10. to measure; to weigh; to judge


• 澄 chéng
  1. clear; limpid
  2. to make (something) become clear; to make (solid impurities) precipitate; to settle
  3. to clarify; to purify


• 承 chéng
  1. to receive; to accept; to inherit
  2. to undertake; to contract (a job)
  3. to continue; to carry on; to succeed
  4. to be obliged; to be indebted to


• 成 chéng
  1. to succeed; to finish; to complete
  2. to help to achieve
  3. to become; to turn into
  4. achievement; positive result
  5. (in compounds) fully developed; fully grown
  6. fixed; ready-made
  7. to reach a certain level; to amount to
  8. to be all right
  9. capable


• 城 chéng
  1. (historical) fort; castle
  2. defensive wall; fortification
  3. fortified settlement
  4. (by extension) any city or town
  5. municipality


• 呈 chéng
  1. flat
  2. submit, show
  3. appear
  4. petition
  5. memorial


• 乘 chéng
  1. (literary) to ascend; to go up
  2. (literary) to drive (a horse, cart, etc.)
  3. to take (a form of transport)
  4. to make use of; to take advantage of
  5. (literary) to pursue; to attack
  6. (arithmetic) to multiply


• 丞 chéng
  1. to assist, to aid
  2. (archaic) a low-level assistant to the governor of a county

…Even if we screen out the ones with no obvious pun potential given Marinette's character arc, we still have six or seven possible characters for her family name.

Astruc tells us Sabine's given name is transliterated Xia Bing. And her sister's, Shu Yin. And whenever I get around to looking up possible characters in the sister's name, I should probably do Su Han and Wang Fu. And apparently we know Sabine's parents are Cheng Mei and Cheng Yan, which means we don't know after all that Cheng Wang is Sabine's father's brother. Either that or we know Astruc and them don't know Chinese women don't as a rule change their family name when they get married.

(My money is, as sadly usual, on "AlexSeanchai does more research on stuff like this than Astruc and them do".)

Anyway. Xiabing. Ninety percent confident that Doylistically speaking, her name was Sabine Cheng long before it was Cheng Xiabing; one hundred percent confident that on the Watsonian level, she chose 'Sabine' for being almost right in a way French speakers were unlikely to mangle the way they were already mangling 'Xiabing'.

Here I'm a lot less confident in what characters might and might not be parts of names. I've filtered what Wiktionary provides us for xiá (rising tone), xià (falling tone), bīng (high tone), bǐng (low tone), and bìng (falling tone) to those that sound to me like they might fit.

• 洽 xiá
  1. to moisten
  2. to be in accord; to be harmonious; to agree
  3. to consult
  4. extensive; wide


• 俠 xiá
  1. chivalrous person; knight-errant
  2. chivalrous; gallant


• 珨 xiá
  1. Large jewellery made from shells.


• 轄 xiá
  1. to govern, to control
  2. having jurisdiction over
  3. noise of a barrow
  4. rule, control
  5. to run, to manage
  6. linchpin of wheel


• 遐 xiá
  1. far
  2. durable


• 夏 xià
  1. (～朝) (historical) the Xia dynasty (2070 BCE – 1600 BCE)
  2. (by extension) China; Chinese
  3. great; grand; magnificent
  4. magnificent colours; resplendent colours; variegated
  5. summer


• 冰 bīng
  1. ice
  2. ice-cold
  3. to freeze; to ice


• 餅 bǐng
  1. pastry; biscuit; cookie
  2. any round and flat pancake-like object


• 秉 bǐng
  1. a handful of crops
  2. to grasp; to hold
  3. to preside over
  4. to persist in; to persevere


• 炳 bǐng
  1. bright; luminous
  2. to shine
  3. notable; remarkable; outstanding; prominent; marked; striking; distinctive
  4. to ignite; to set on fire; to light; to kindle


• 稟 bǐng
  1. to bestow; to endow
  2. to receive
  3. to report


• 柄 bǐng | bìng
  1. handle (of an axe, implement, etc.)
  2. stem (of a flower, leaf, fruit, etc.)
  3. mistake which can be used against someone
  4. (literary) power; authority
  5. (literary) to wield; to be in control of


• 併 bìng
  1. to combine; to amalgamate

My personal suspicion is that Sabine Cheng's original name is 澄夏炳 Chéng Xiàbǐng, clarify/purify magnificent/colorful bright/notable. Your mileage may, obviously, vary.

Comments

[soc_puppet]

If Astruc ever sees this research, money says he'll be going with 轄餅 for her first name, to signify that she's In Charge of Pastries. Whether it makes sense for an actual name, I couldn't say, but it's still where I'd put my bets. 程 for her last name, for Regulations, would probably fit the aforementioned theme best, but he'd probably go with 乘 "ascend/rise up", especially if he ever finds out that there's no real evidence of "Marinette" having that meaning, regardless of whether 乘 can apply to bread dough.