Explore Chinese Names

How to use this directory

Every name here is a real name that Chinese parents use, not a combination invented for the site. Each entry shows the characters, the pinyin with tone marks, the meaning of each character, what the name suggests as a whole, its style and the gender impression it gives, with audio.

There are four ways in:

• Chinese girl names and Chinese boy names list given names by gender, from timeless classics to names popular with babies today.
• Chinese last names covers the 100 most common family names, with meanings, audio and how each is spelled in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
• Names by meaning groups characters and names by the quality they express, such as peace, light, nature or wisdom.

If you're new to Chinese names, start with how Chinese names work, then come back and browse.

What makes a name sound Chinese

A Chinese name is built from a family name followed by a one- or two-character given name: 王安然 is family name 王 plus given name 安然. Browsing the lists, you'll notice a few patterns:

• Family names are few and shared. A small set of surnames covers most of the population, so you'll see 王, 李, 张, 刘 and 陈 again and again.
• Given names are combined, not chosen from a list. Parents pair characters, so the same character appears in many names: 安 in 安然, 安琪 and 子安.
• Most given names have two characters. One-character given names such as 伟 or 娜 are common too, especially among people born in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Characters carry gender. 婷, 雅 and 婉 read as feminine, 刚, 杰 and 伟 as masculine, and 安, 明 and 文 work for anyone.

Classic, modern and literary

We tag each name with a style to show what a native speaker hears:

• Classic names have been used for decades and sound steady at any age, such as 文杰 or 静怡.
• Modern names are what parents choose now. 一诺, 梓涵 and 宇轩 are typical of children born after 2010, so on an adult they suggest someone young.
• Literary names borrow from poetry and classical texts and sound refined, such as 若溪 or 思远.

The style matters most if you're choosing a name as an adult. A modern name that sounds charming on a toddler can feel out of place on a business card.

How names change over time

Chinese names follow fashions, just as English ones do. Names from the 1950s and 1960s often expressed national ideals, such as 建国 ("build the nation") or 卫东 ("defend the east"). The 1980s and 1990s favored short, single-character given names such as 伟, 静 and 磊. Since the 2000s, parents have moved toward two-character names with softer, more literary characters, and a few names, such as 子涵 and 浩宇, became so popular that whole classrooms shared them.

Knowing this helps you read a name the way a native speaker does: a name tells you roughly when a person was born.

Finding a name for yourself

If you're browsing for a Chinese name of your own:

1. Pick two or three qualities you'd like your name to suggest, and start from names by meaning.
2. Choose a family name that echoes your own or has a meaning you like, from the last names list.
3. Check the style and gender impression of the given names you like.
4. Say the full name aloud, family name first, and listen for anything awkward.

Our guide on how to choose a Chinese name goes through this step by step. For quick ideas, the Chinese name generator pairs real family names with real given names at random.