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Do people in Taiwan add the 阿 or 儿 as suffixes to a family member's name like they do in China? I know that there are some similarities and differences and I was wondering if they also extended to diminutives.

Also, are those used for loved ones (like boyfriend/girlfriend), or very close friends? Or is it just family?

Amelia Albergee
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    阿 is very common. Many Taiwanese have great difficulty in pronounce 儿 correctly :) – r13 Sep 07 '21 at 01:57
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    阿 as suffix? No. It is used as a prefix. – joehua Sep 07 '21 at 01:57
  • @r13 Thank you. :) – Amelia Albergee Sep 08 '21 at 00:15
  • You are welcome. The people in Northern, Northeastern China are more used to the sound of 儿 and often use it as the ending of a nickname. In Taiwan, almost everybody has a nickname starting with 阿 - 阿雄, 阿秀, or use to address your relatives - 阿兄(older brother), 阿弟(younger brother)). 阿姐(older sister), 阿爸(father), 阿母(mother)....... – r13 Sep 08 '21 at 00:38
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    @r13 Does it matter which character in a name? For example, for someone called 陳彥廷 could you do 阿彥 or 阿廷? Or it has to be the first character in the name? And thank you again. :) – Amelia Albergee Sep 08 '21 at 15:02
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    @AmeliaAlbergee It does not matter, as long as the guy accepts it. Commonly his friend will call him 阿廷, but his sweetheart may call him 阿彥 to differentiate herself. 阿 can be in the middle of a person's full name, say 陳阿三, 李阿妹, if this is your question. – r13 Sep 08 '21 at 15:47
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    @AmeliaAlbergee While it is not a derogation word, for a person's full name with 阿 in it, people will speculate on his parents' education level and family background. As in the past in the rural area, a poor uneducated parent sometimes does not know how to pick a proper and meaningful name for the new born, while asked the name for the kid during ID registration, the parents might answer "在家裡我們叫他阿狗啦". When encountered with an impatient registration clerk, the child may end up with the name "黃阿狗" :) However, he may change the name later for the reason that the given name "不雅聞 (聽來不雅)". – r13 Sep 08 '21 at 16:56
  • Thank you! :) Great explanation! – Amelia Albergee Sep 08 '21 at 17:44

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阿 is commonly used in front of a character as a nickname or term of endearment (e.g. 阿妹 instead of 張惠妹). But I have never heard anyone use 兒.

As for when it is used, I think it can be found in all circumstances, but I think it also depends on the person.

Brian Tang
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