|
|
Names
Lee's Cantonese given name was Jun Fan (??; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhènfán).[12] At his birth, he additionally was given the English name of "Bruce" by a Dr. Mary Glover. Though Mrs. Lee had not initially planned on an English name for the child, she deemed it appropriate and would concur with Dr. Glover's addition.[13] However, his American name was never used within his family until he enrolled in La Salle College (a Hong Kong high school) at the age of 12,[12] and again at another high school (St. Francis Xavier's College in Kowloon), where Lee would come to represent the boxing team in inter-school events.
Lee initially had the birth name Li Yuen Kam[2](???); Mandarin Pinyin: Li Xuànjin) given to him by his mother, as at the time, Lee's father was away on a Chinese opera tour. This name would later be abandoned because of a conflict with the name of Bruce's grandfather, causing him to be renamed Jun Fan upon his father's return. Also of note is that Bruce Lee was given a feminine name, Sai Fung (??, literally "small phoenix"), which was used throughout his early childhood in keeping with a Chinese custom, traditionally thought to hide a child from evil spirits.
Lee's screen names were respectively Lee Siu Lung (in Cantonese), and Li Xiao Long (in Mandarin) (???; Cantonese pengyam: Ley5 Siu² Long4; Mandarin Pinyin: Li Xiaolóng) which literally translate to "Lee the Little Dragon" in English. These names were first used by director ??? of the 1950 Cantonese movie ???, in which Lee would perform. It is possible that the name "Lee Little Dragon" was based on his childhood name of "small dragon", as, in Chinese tradition, the dragon and phoenix come in pairs to represent the male and female genders respectively. The more likely explanation is that he came to be called "Little Dragon" because, according to the Chinese zodiac, he was born in the Year of the Dragon.
|
|
|