Ян Ян
By coincidence, Yang had a one-year and one month older contemporary on the Chinese short track team also named Yang Yang in English and pinyin, although with a different given name in Chinese characters. They were originally referred to as Yang Yang (L) ("大杨扬") and Yang Yang (S) ("小杨阳"), for "Large" and "Small"; Yang Yang (L) disliked the "L" designation and changed her designation to Yang Yang (A). "A" and "S" also refer to their respective months of birth: August and September respectively.