I happen to know a Chinese friend who said that the concepts of dragon and Loong are too different to be confused, so the Chinese one, which we often call eastern dragon, should be called Loong, and the western one should be called dragon. I also think that because things from other regions are similar to things from that region, it's a bit disrespectful to use the name of the thing with the prefix of the region in front of it (except for things that are similar because they were originally developed in that region).

weibilin said:
I happen to know a Chinese friend who said that the concepts of dragon and Loong are too different to be confused, so the Chinese one, which we often call eastern dragon, should be called Loong, and the western one should be called dragon. I also think that because things from other regions are similar to things from that region, it's a bit disrespectful to use the name of the thing with the prefix of the region in front of it (except for things that are similar because they were originally developed in that region).

Uh no, 龙 (pronounced "loong") literally means "Dragon". There is nothing disrespectful for calling dragons as being from the Western world or the Eastern world, since they are typically depicted differently.

thegreatwolfgang said:
Uh no, 龙 (pronounced "loong") literally means "Dragon". There is nothing disrespectful for calling dragons as being from the Western world or the Eastern world, since they are typically depicted differently.

This is a historical legacy issue, and in fact, these two should be independent concepts, just because linguistic issues are classified as products of evolution in different regions

weibilin said:
This is a historical legacy issue, and in fact, these two should be independent concepts, just because linguistic issues are classified as products of evolution in different regions

Ask your friend how do they call Western dragons in Chinese then.

thegreatwolfgang said:
Ask your friend how do they call Western dragons in Chinese then.

Of course it's called dragon, so using loong in the East doesn't conflict anymore

weibilin said:
Of course it's called dragon, so using loong in the East doesn't conflict anymore

I wanted to talk more about this supposed conflict between calling it Dragon vs. Loong, but decided against it since it led me down a rabbit hole I'd rather not go into.

So I will just say this, I personally speak Chinese myself and don't find this Dragon vs. Loong distinction to be needed.
This is an English-centric website so we stick with what most English-speaking people calls them.
Plus, eastern_dragon also compasses more than just Chinese dragons, so it wouldn't be fair to our Japanese friends if they want to call it 竜/りゆう instead.