Thanks! I've been silently, patiently waiting for someone to post this. You're the best.

(I don't like the character chosen for the name "Jayne," though. It doesn't pronounce the name correctly... they could have done a better phonetic translation like 贼呢 {which actually translates perfectly, too}... but what do I know.)

mumble mumble...

That was me above

TCM

Looks kinda like the face of the Beast from the Id, in Forbidden Planet.

TCM -
In this case, American names are "translated" into Chinese based on a few things: pronunciation, aesthetics, and meaning. That's why there are different character combinations for the same name. In this case, the character they've chosen is jian3 (pronounced j-yan, with voice starting mid, dipping low, and ending high as in a question). This character means (1) simple; simplified; brief (2) bamboo slips; letter (correspondence) or (3) select; choose.

I thought 贼呢 (zei2 ne) would have been a better choice; it's pronounced dzay-neh (dzay - like combining 'j' in 'jeep' with 'ds' in 'beds' and 'ay' in 'day', said with voice from low to high as in a question; neh - 'n' with a de-emphasized, almost cut off 'eh' at the end). When said aloud, I think this resembles "Jayne" moreso than "jyan" does. Also, the meaning is perfect for Jayne: thief!; enemy!; or traitor! But, again, what do I know... aside from the fact that I apparently have far too much time on my hands for thinking about this kind of thing.

Anyway, that info is just for those of you who're considering making graphics, shirts and the like and might want character options for names. Um. Yeah.

HK: Thank you for the enlightenment! I was thinking of doing a line of Dead Fish shirts on my zazzle site using the most common chinese translations for english names and doing some others (like firefly) on the backs so people could get custom/personalized versions of it.

What do y'all think?