Consistent Romanization of Chinese

Factual Questions
1

For many Chinese names and texts, multiple transliterations seem to exist. For instance, you see Laozi, Lao-Tzu, or Lao-Tse; and you’ll see Tao Te King, Tao Te Ching, or Daodejing, the latter with a variety of spacings.

My problem is that I want to be able to at least refer to the book and its author in a consistent manner. So, which pairing would be appropriate—Daodejing and Laozi? Tao Te Ching and Lao-Tzu? Something else?

Also, what’s the most common Romanization?

Finally, I’m also interested in the first line of the Tao. The source I’m using gives it as “dao ke dao, fei chang dao”. Which would be an appropriate transliteration of Daodejing and Laozi to use along with that?

So basically, I want to refer to the book, its writer, and quote its first line without appearing like the ignorant fool on the subject that I really am. Any help is deeply appreciated!

2

The current Romanization system is Pinyin Pinyin - Wikipedia
Wade-Giles is the older system: Wade–Giles - Wikipedia

The fact that you’re dealing with a text and author from 2000 years ago means that there will be multiple renderings.

3

The line “dao ke dao, fei chang dao” is pinyin. That is much the preferred Romanization system to use today.

Here’s the complete text in hanzi, pinyin, and three side by side English translations.

4

Thanks. So I suppose the fitting Romanizations of author and text are ‘Laozi’ and ‘Daodejing’, correct?

5

Yes, although technically pinyin should include the diacritical marks to indicate tone: Lǎozǐ and Dàodéjīng.

6

No. People interested in the Chinese classics still prefer the older romanization.
Look at Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2013&q=“Tao+Te+Ching”&hl=en&as_sdt=1,16
about 4510 entries since 2013 for “Tao Te Ching”

vs:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=1%2C16&as_ylo=2013&q=“Daodejing”&btnG=
about 1750 entries since 2013 for “Daodejing”

If you were to do a poll at Straight Dope I think you would find vastly more people recognizing “Tao Te Ching” than “Daodejing”

7

The OP asked what is the most common Romanization system today. The answer to that question is unequivocally pinyin, not Wade-Giles. Pinyin is the official Romanization system used in both mainland China and Taiwan, is the system used by the United Nations and the US Library of Congress, and is the system standardized by ISO. Some words that are historically better known in their Wade-Giles form like Tao Te Ching, I Ching, tai chi, etc. may still be referred to in the Wade-Giles form in some contexts, but that does not by any means indicate that Wade-Giles is a currently popular Romanization system.