convert Chinese name to English name

Stephan would come close, I think

You cannot exactly "convert" a foreign name into English. If the person's name is "Shifang", that is their name, not "Stephen". It is demeaning to people of other culures to insist that their names be anglicised.

That's "cultures".

It's not even like saying that the Catalan Jaume is really "James", and that people with those names must have them Anglicised, insulting though that is. A name from another, non European culture can only at best "sound like" some English name or other. Again I repeat that such names should be left alone and their owners called by their proper names.

I think its a loose translation of Bartholomew or Griswold or Roy. They're all variations of the same name.

What's wrong with Fred? One English name is as good as another, unless you intend to translate the name directly into English.

The Canadian journalist Jan Wong has a given name which translates as "Bright Precious" Wong. I think Jan works a lot better, and she still has and has done no violence to her actual given name.

Shifang is definitely George.

If you want to translate the the name into English lierally, that depends on which two exact characters the name is composed of.

That is not translation. That is transliteration.

Anyone with a lick of sense knows that Fred is the name he wants.

No, it's quite obviously Perry.

Do you think we scared him off?

can you please translate FANG ZHI NUAN to english?

Check here

This thread is a joke, right?
Has anyone on this thread actually spent any time in China?
(Most) English names in China are not dictionary translations of Chinese names. Rendered this way, the majority of them would be ridiculous to Westerners, to which facilitating communication is the only purpose Chinese people see of even having an English name.

Many younger Chinese choose very stupid names (like Banana, or Superman, etc) but as they get older and wiser, and must prepare for their careers, they adopt more generally acceptable names.

When Chinese people ask a Westerner to help them choose an English name, they usually just want something that sounds good. Some care if it matches or approximates the pronunciation of their name, but in my experience, most don't.