Native Chinese speaker here, struggling with the phrases in red. 在那个起名小红，彩凤遍布的年代，云汐这名简直让我妈惊为天人，于是决定无论她肚子里是男是女，就叫云汐。 I get 彩凤 is probably a colorful phoenix, but what do that mean in this context? That it was a time when colorful phoenixes were popular? The 小红 also throws me off; I have no idea what that might be. For more context, this is the third sentence in from the very beginning. Main character is YunXi, a guy, and he's complaining about how his mom gave him a really girly name just because it was the name of the female protagonist from some novel she read (and whatever other reason the sentence reason above is trying to say).
Try using different web translations, compare the results and make your conclusion based on the given translations
I only understand the first part which is 起名小红 which I believe means something along the lines of "his nickname is little red" or "he's being nicknamed little red" something like that. I have no idea what the rest of that says... or means
Well, as a complete beginner...I rely on Google: In the era when the name Xiaohong and Caifeng were all over, Yunxiao’s name made my mother amazed, so she decided that no matter whether she was a man or a woman in her stomach, she called Yunxiao. Which kind of makes sense if you are saying he was complaining about the name.
The 小红 definitely sounds like a nickname, but there's no character appearing before or after named 小红. Oh that's possible, though with the way that Chinese naming works, I can't imagine how 小红 or 彩凤 could be popular, especially to the point that a parent would want to avoid naming their own child that. Also the "," type of comma is like a full-on comma, not a list comma, hence why I didn't even consider that "popular" could be used to describe both Xiaohong and Caifeng. But it's a webnovel, so it's possible the writer just didn't bother to distinguish? I'll check. Ahh if only. Maybe one day haha
I'm glad it gave you a direction to go in. I was worried it sounded arrogant for a complete amateur to guide a native speaker.
It could be 1, it was referring that those name were too common, and YunXi was a unique name. Also I don't think Being common is the same as being popular. And author was probably trying to say those name are 烂大街. 2. To me, little red and colourful whatever sounded like names for lower-class people. Don't ask me why, just a feeling. You would often see maids or prostitutes having those names, especially in historical setting novels. Yunxi, on the other hand, feels like upppe-class name...
I could be completely off but does it mean a minor celebrity/star? Well probably doesn't fit the context anyway.
I believe it's talking about Parakeets. Baidu: It seems to be the bird "Budgerigar", which is also known as Jiaoheng. The novel is almost appearing to possibly be a real novel, but in just that sentence there's no explanation of the connection between Parakeets and the novel or why exactly the mother chose the name, just that she did.
No problem! Sometimes it helps to get a different perspective. Huh that's an interesting idea! Personally, I can see how Little Red is low-class, but not so sure about the Vibrant Phoenix also being low-class. Then again, I honestly don't read too many historical Chinese novels, so who knows. For the "common" aspect of it, 遍布 does mean "common" in the "popular" sense (at least in how I've always heard it), so I'm a bit more iffy on that? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! For the sole reason of context, I'm going to rule these out. Thank you for the input though!
Like popular, widespread, etc, right? I thought you were trying to say that it's "common" in the sense of commoner, poor, low-class.
在那个起名小红，彩凤遍布的年代，云汐这名简直让我妈惊为天人，于是决定无论她肚子里是男是女，就叫云汐 I’ll break it down for you 那个起名 naming (as in first name) 小红，彩凤遍布的年代 era where Xiaohong and Caifeng etc. were so commonly used The naming of Yun Xi blah blah blah, so she decided no matter the child she bore was a girl or a boy, she would name him/her Yunxi Sorry for the rough explanation if you want I can restructure it for you
Nah you're good! Though I still don't get in why Xiaohong or Caifeng would be commonly used. The MC (before transmigrating) lives in the modern world, and even after transmigrating, constantly makes pop culture references. It just seems weird that these names would be used as the standard. But at this point, this translation makes the most sense so I'll probably just go with it. Also managed to consult a few other native speakers irl (ones who live/work there) and confirmed that this is not a normal, legible sentence. So technically, everyone's right?
Agree with #8 and #15. let me have a try. If this storyteller is an english-speaker, this sentence would be like this: Back in the old days, everyone is named jack ,or lily. So, the name ,Nathaniel, stunned my mom. She determined no matter she would bore a boy or a girl,she would name him/her Nathaniel. 小红/彩凤 are common names, so they might sound under-class. 云汐 is less common. it sounds/means good and elegant. I need a long paragraph to explain why these name (小红/彩凤) are not popular anymore,and why 云汐 is a good name...
My friends who live there (and I) were just dumbfounded at the grammar. I'm pretty sure it's the incorrect comma that got to them/us, and the fact that they recognized 小红 as a common name, but 彩凤 not so much.
China is divided among many states, and i could say that each city has their own dialect. Although many cultures share similarities within them but there are also few differences. I guess from where the author came from, there are many who used 小红 and 彩凤 as their first name. There are 56 existing races that i know of that are concluded as chinese (example: 汉族（han）回族（hui）蒙古族（inner mongolian）etc。