[d33]

As a person learning Chinese, I find it super frustrating that Chinese brand names are only mentioned in Pinyin, and to make it worse, without tones. With tones, it would have been xuántiě, which makes it possible to properly pronounce without extra context. In Chinese characters it's 玄铁 in simplified and 玄鐵 in traditional script. The meaning is "reddish-black iron". I'm curious if it should be taken literally or if it's a cultural reference of some sort.

[paradite]

These names usually come from Chinese mythology and Wuxia, which carries a sense of national/cultural pride:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia

Xuantie probably came from Xuxia, and is widely used in pop culture (games especially) for metals that have special mystical properties.

[liuw]

武侠 (Wuxia) culture is big in Alibaba. Everyone has a 花名 (alias / nickname) in the company. In the early days, people just picked names from 金庸 (Jin Yong)'s novels. Jack Ma's 花名 is 风清扬, who is a great sword master in one of the novels. Source: I had a short stint there.

Picking 玄铁, which also comes from Jin Yong's novel, seems rather natural in that context.

Jin Yong's novels are very popular in Chinese speaking countries and regions. Most readers won't associate them with China. I don't think it has anything to do with national pride. Culture pride? I don't see much either.

[paradite]

Yes, I agree that it is the natural thing to do. Maybe building / reaffirming cultural identity through these names is what I was trying to convey.

[knolax]

By your logic a World of Warcraft reference is also nationalistic. Western engineers can make the most convoluted cultural references possible with no criticism but something as innocuous as naming a processor after a fictional metal attracts accusationa of nationalism.

[paradite]

I must apologize if I made you feel like it is a criticism. I think national/cultural pride is a pretty positive thing, at least in China.

[no_time]

Americans have their fair share of nationalistic names.

The original Xbox was codenamed Midway for obvious reasons. :^)

[mytailorisrich]

Maybe a reference from a novel [1]. Rough Google translation of the summary: "The black iron is the material recorded in Jin Yong's novels. It is dark in color with a faint red light. It is extremely heavy, has a high melting point, and has a magnetic force."

[1] https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%8E%84%E9%93%81/2949942