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Scottie_Boi
Mr K, the reason I brought up 明道 was because its a common taiwanese translation of Matthew, I was also under the assumption 麥 was used for last names usually.
The missionaries decided to translate Matthew as 明道 in some part of China for political reasons. In other parts of China, it is usually translated as 馬太, 瑪竇, or 麥菲. Whether to adopt a meaning-based or sound-based translation will heavily depend on what the name bearer expects to gain from the result. I usually assume that the reason of adopting a Chinese name is to gain social acceptance in a Chinese society. Hence, I almost always recommend an ordinary Chinese-sounding name. If the intention is to make yourself a talking point of your social circle FOREVER, then you have the liberty to be as creative as you want-- as long as you are ready to accept the consequence.
A name like 麥諸葛, 麥麒瀰, 麥俊狼, or 握阿密 each defies an important rule in Chinese naming practice and will certainly bring a lot of unwanted attention.
麥諸葛 -- Named after a famous historical figure
麥麒瀰 -- Sounds like a negative word (騎呢) while bringing no meaningful connotation
麥俊狼 -- Name after a negative image (wolf 狼)
握阿密 -- Sounds like a famous place (邁阿密 Miami) while bringing no meaningful connotation. Also, 握 is not a common Chinese surname.
You can refer to the following list to gain some idea on what a "serious" name translation would look like.
英國官方與政治人物漢化譯名列表
Translating an English given name (e.g., Matt) as a Chinese surname (e.g., 麥) is acceptable even though it is rare. In addition to the example of Matt Damon (麥廸文) that I mentioned earlier, a British official Stuart Adam is translated as 司徒艾 even though 司徒, a Chinese surname, actually corresponds to his given name Stuart. (Assume that the above list is accurate...)