Etymology of foreign names translated to Chinese I am looking for a resource that explains the translation of English names to Chinese. In this case i am trying to understand why Broadway is translated to 百老汇。
Anyone knows? Thanks in advance.
Most foreign names are transliterated, not translated into Chinese.

百老汇 /Bǎi lǎo huì/ is a transliteration of Broadway

Only a few English names of place are common enough to be translated by their actual meaning in Chinese

Example: 


Buffalo city - 水牛城 
Phoenix city - 鳳凰城


For people's name, even the simplest English names like "Stone" and "White" are transliterated as "史東" (Shǐ Dōng) and "韋特" (Wéi Tè) instead of translated as "石" (stone) and "白" (white)