How do Americans working in China come up with Chinese names?

Before U.S. President Obama came to China, he first "rectified" his Chinese name; politicians who have a little influence in New York politics, or who plan to make a difference in the future, all have their own Chinese names.

In Zi Day, if the name is not correct, the words will not go smoothly; if the words are not smooth, things will not go well. It seems Americans believe this too. Before U.S. President Obama even arrived in China, he launched a campaign to “rectify his name.” According to reports, the propaganda poster issued by the U.S. Embassy in China uses "U.S. President Barack Obama." Embassy staff revealed that the U.S. government is standardizing the Chinese translation of the president and will all use "Obama" from now on. The reason for "unification" shows that there is "non-uniformity" in the Chinese translation of President Obama. In the Chinese media in New York, the Taiwan-based "World Journal" has always been translated as Obama, the Hong Kong-based "Sing Tao Daily" and the mainland-based "Qiao Bao" have always been translated as Obama.

Whether it is called Obama or Obama, it is just a transliteration of Obama, not a real Chinese name. The Chinese cultural content in the transliterated foreign names is not high, such as Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush. The Chinese names are purely code names, and it is difficult to say that they have deep meanings. But since the U.S. government takes the initiative to take this trouble and effort, it shows that Obama cares about his code name in the Chinese-speaking world, which further shows that he cares about China. In fact, not only President Obama wants to unify his Chinese name, but also politicians who have a little influence in New York politics, or who plan to make a difference in the future, all have their own Chinese names. What is mentioned here is the Chinese name they specially gave themselves, not the Chinese transliteration of their English name. It's no surprise that many ordinary Americans give themselves a Chinese name just for fun.