What are the go to documentation sources for Chinese names?
Anonymous
One thing to consider when doing research regarding China in an SCA context is that you’re one of a relatively small number.
I wasn’t able to find any traditional “books” for Chinese onomastics (fancy word for first names), but I did find some relevant resources.
Introduction to Pre-16th Century Chinese Onomastics
by Ii Katsumori
SCA Heraldry Website [Link]
The Onomastics of Medieval South China: Patterned Naming in the Lang-Yeh and T’ai-Yüan Wang
by Dennis Grafflin
Journal of the American Oriental Society [JSTOR Link]
What IS a Name? Reflections on Onomastics
by William Bright, University of Colorado
Language and Linguistics [Link]
What’s in an early Chinese name, again? [In German]by Wolfgang Behr
Academia.edu [Link]
Hope this helps!