What’s in a Family Name? (China)

-
Entries have been pending for a long time now. Found some interesting things happening around the world lately, but could not post them earlier. Would be blogging them soon.

For now, its something interesting about one of most exciting markets – China.
A recent survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences published some notable facts about the Chinese Family Names in China.

According to the report* (as covered in China Daily),

There are 4,100 family names for some 1.3 billion people in China, of which 94 percent use one of the 300 big family names, such as Li, Zhang, or Wang

Out of these, “Li” is most popular family name, with 7.4% of Chinese people bearing that name [Source - Survey released by China's National Natural Science Foundation in January]

The most used name in China is Wang Tao, with about 100,000 people bearing the name!

What’s in it for Marketers?
Though this might not be too relevant till the point-of-sale, but looking ahead, a CRM model would need to take this factor into consideration. More so, Loyalty cards and Networks would need to have an extra variable for verification.
Photo identification might not be the best way of security checks also.
Even the Service model, including personalized services, would be different. This could specifically need special treatment in case of Insurance, Bank Accounts & Financial transactions, Private deposits and Legalities in Ownership.

Interestingly, the surname is the only Chinese element in the names of most of the Chinese today. Most of them prefer to have a Western first name, so that their first names are not spoilt.
According to Business in Asia

In China, the family name precedes the given name, which is occasionally followed by the second name or the western equivalent of a first name.

Nonetheless, I believe some innovation is required in the Chinese mindset to think of newer names ;-)
Imagine even if a tenth of them reach a Starbucks, place their order and wait for their names to be called out. Would be quite an exercise!

Must say, Risk of counterfeiting in China is no longer restricted to products only ;-).

* The survey has investigated about 1,110 counties and cities covering nearly 296 million people with 4,100 surnames.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Socio-economic Classification - Are we (in) SEC C?

-
Image
Acknowledgements for this entry go to the interviewers in my last mock-interview, who asked my about the SEC bands and specifics! SEC, i.e. Socio-economic Classification is a classification made in the urban and the rural sector, to identify the consumption pattern and the household purchase behavior. Based on education levels, occupation, type of household , etc. the population is divided into separate bands, called the Socio-economic Classes. The Urban Sector is divided into SEC A1, A2, B1, B2, C, D, E1, E2 (Calculated as a function of Educational qualifications of the CWE* and his occupation) The Rural Sector is divided into SEC R1, R2, R3, R4 (Calculated as a function of Educational Qualifications of the CWE* and the type of the household he stays in – Pucca, Semi Pucca or Kaccha) Following is the exact division in the Rural Sector: ( Source : Ficci Press Release ) Unfortunately, I have still not been able to find out the exact details about the urban classification. But Accord
Read more

All women need to strip off….

-
Image
..the biases ..the stereotypes ..the perceptions ..the others in you No this is not a note on pornographic innuendoes, neither is it a set of tips to succeed in an MCP world. This is a collection of a little reflection, inspired by the monotony of over empathizing celebrations of Women’s day! Have you ever wondered - Why is Pink Panther a comedy and Black Panther an action hero film? Why is it that in spite of more movies in Bollywood now with lady protagonists, the Superhits – the highest grosers are still the ones that drive machismo? Why does our behavior towards women in our lives get determined by the lunar calendar? Is respect for women seasonal? Right from childhood to whatever you might term as “later stage of life” – women go through stereotypes. Some use hashtags to summarize their #MeToos, while others lock themselves in a room, praying for a better afterlife or silently waiting for the Phoenix to get up and change the world! Some empathize with their co-sufferer
Read more

Pay it Forward - and be happier!

-
Call it Gift Economy, "Pay it forward" or selfless, or just Social Impact - it has now been proven by Experts at Harvard also, that there is nothing more gratifying and nothing gives you more happiness than helping others and making them feel good! :) Though not sure of the connect with the brand, but would rate this high on the emotive appeal! :)
Read more