Yang Zi Legally Changed Her Name in Childhood, Says Her Father

Following actress Yang Zi’s Best Actress win for Born to be Alive at the Magnolia Awards, some questioned why she had not entered the competition under her birth name in accordance with recent rules in China for stars to use their legal name.

Her original name, Yang Ni’ao (杨旎奥), is widely known to have been chosen by her father, a devoted sports fan, to express his hope that Beijing would one day win the bid to host the Olympic Games, a story the actress herself has shared in previous interviews. Responding to the speculation, Yang Zi’s father recently clarified to Chinese media that Yang Ni’ao was indeed her legal name, but it has legally been changed to Yang Zi when she was in the first grade of primary school. “Her name on her ID card has been Yang Zi ever since,” he said.

He explained that the original name was difficult to write because of its many strokes, and people on set often nicknamed the actress “Xiao Yangzi” (Little Yangzi 小杨子). Her mother felt that the character “Zi” (子), which means child or son, did not sound appealing and chose “Zi” (紫) instead, meaning “purple,” which also happened to be Yang Zi’s favorite color. Since then, “Yang Zi” has been the actress’s legal name, appearing on her national ID card, household registration, etc. “Yang Ni’ao” remains only as a former name in official records. The Magnolia Awards verify nominees using their legal names, which means Yang Zi was fully compliant with the rules. Meanwhile, Yang Zi revealed in the past that she herself chose Andy as her English name.