How Do Chinese Names Work?

A Chinese name has two parts: the family name (姓, xìng) and the given name (名, míng). In Chinese, the family name always comes first.

In 王安然 (Wáng Ānrán), 王 is the family name and 安然 is the given name. Friends call her Anran; in a formal setting she is Ms. Wang.

That simple pattern hides a lot of craft. This guide walks through each part of a Chinese name, how it is chosen, how it is used in daily life and what all of this means if you want a Chinese name of your own.

The parts of a Chinese name at a glance

• Family name (姓 xìng): usually one character, inherited, written first. Example: 王 Wáng.
• Given name (名 míng): one or two characters chosen by the parents, written second. Example: 安然 Ānrán.
• Nickname (小名 xiǎomíng): an informal name used by family, often a doubled syllable. Example: 然然 Ránrán.
• Generation character (字辈 zìbèi): in some families, one character of the given name is shared by all siblings and cousins of the same generation.

Historically, educated men also had a courtesy name (字 zì) and sometimes a literary art name (号 hào). The poet 李白 Lǐ Bái had the courtesy name 太白 Tàibái. These are no longer used in everyday life, but you will meet them in history and literature.

Family names are short and shared

Most Chinese family names are a single character. A small number of them are carried by a very large share of the population: 王 Wang, 李 Li, 张 Zhang, 刘 Liu and 陈 Chen are each used by tens of millions of people, and 王 and 李 by around a hundred million each.

This concentration is the opposite of what English speakers are used to. In the United States, the most common surname, Smith, is carried by about one percent of people. In China, the hundred most common family names cover the large majority of the population. A classic Song dynasty primer, the Hundred Family Surnames (百家姓 Bǎijiāxìng), lists a few hundred of them, and children still learn its opening line: 赵钱孙李 (Zhào Qián Sūn Lǐ).

A few family names have two characters, such as 欧阳 (Ōuyáng), 司马 (Sīmǎ) and 诸葛 (Zhūgě). They are rare today but familiar from history and fiction.

Traditionally, children take their father's family name. Since 1980, the law in mainland China has allowed either parent's family name, and more families now give a second child the mother's. Married women in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong generally keep their own family name. An older custom in Hong Kong and Taiwan added the husband's surname in front, which is why you may see four-character names on older public figures.

Given names carry the meaning

The given name is where parents express hopes and taste. It is usually one or two characters:

• Two characters is the most common pattern today, as in 安然 (calm and at ease) or 浩然 (vast and upright).
• One character, as in 王伟 or 李娜, is also normal. Single-character given names were especially common in the 1980s and 1990s.

Unlike English, Chinese does not have a fixed list of given names. Parents combine characters, so the same name can be shared by many people or be almost unique. There is no Chinese equivalent of looking up "John" in a baby-name book; instead, parents look up characters and test combinations.

Some common sources of inspiration:

• Virtues and wishes: 德 (virtue), 信 (trust), 安 (peace), 康 (health).
• Nature: 林 (forest), 雨 (rain), 月 (moon), 山 (mountain).
• Classical literature: lines from the Book of Songs (诗经) or Tang poetry, from which parents borrow one or two characters.
• Place and time: a character for the season of birth, such as 春 (spring) or 冬 (winter), or for a birthplace.

You can browse many of these in our names by meaning collection.

Each character has its own meaning

Every character contributes meaning: 安 means peace, 然 means natural or "so". But people hear a name as a whole, the way you hear "Grace" rather than its etymology. That's why our name pages show each character's meaning and what the name means as a whole.

The two characters of a given name also work together. Good pairs balance each other: a soft character with a strong one, a concrete image with an abstract quality. 思远 (Sīyuǎn), "thinking far ahead", pairs a verb of the mind with a sense of distance. 雨桐 (Yǔtóng) pairs rain with the paulownia tree, a gentle and natural image. A pair of characters that each mean "beautiful", such as 美丽, reads as an adjective rather than a name.

Sound matters as much as meaning

A good Chinese name also has to sound right:

• Tones. Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone. Names with a mix of tones (for example, a rising tone followed by a falling one) are usually easier to say than names where every syllable has the same tone.
• Homophones. Chinese has many words that sound alike. A name can be perfectly fine on paper and still sound like something awkward when said aloud. Our guide to funny Chinese names has the classic examples.
• Rhythm with the family name. The surname and given name are said together, so the whole three-syllable unit should flow. Parents often say the full name aloud many times before deciding.
• Ease of writing and reading. Rare or very complex characters can cause trouble on forms and with input methods.

Generation names and family poems

Some families, especially in the countryside and in families with written genealogies, keep a generation poem (字辈诗). Each line or character of the poem belongs to one generation. All the children born in that generation share that character in their given names.

For example, if the generation character is 文, brothers and cousins might be named 文杰, 文涛 and 文博. Their children would take the next character in the poem. This tells relatives at a glance who belongs to which generation.

The custom is much weaker in cities today, and many young parents choose freely. But you will still see it in family trees, and it explains why siblings sometimes share a character.

Nicknames and everyday forms

Chinese people use a rich set of informal names alongside the official one:

• Milk names (小名 or 乳名): childhood names used by parents and grandparents, such as 豆豆 (little bean) or 乐乐 (happy). Many people keep theirs within the family for life.
• Doubled syllables: 然然 from 安然, 婷婷 from 雨婷. Affectionate, mostly for children and close friends.
• 小 + surname or given name: 小王 (Xiǎo Wáng) for a younger colleague, 小雨 for a friend.
• 老 + surname: 老王 (Lǎo Wáng) for an older colleague or a close friend of the same age. It is friendly, not rude.
• 阿 + one syllable: 阿明, common in southern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

None of these appear on documents, but they are part of how a name lives day to day.

Era and gender leave traces

Names reflect their time. 建国 ("build the nation") is typical of boys born around 1949, while 秀英 sounds like a grandmother today. Popular names of the 2010s, such as 子涵 or 宇轩, can feel common to native speakers.

Many characters lean feminine (婷, 婉, 雅) or masculine (伟, 刚, 杰), and others are neutral (安, 明, 一). This impression matters when a name is chosen for an adult from outside China. A name that sounds sweet for a little girl may sound odd on a business card, and a name fashionable for babies today may suggest someone much younger than you.

Names on paper

In mainland China, a name is recorded on the household register and the national ID card in simplified characters. Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional characters, so 陈 appears as 陳. When the same name is romanized, mainland documents use pinyin (Chen), while Hong Kong and Taiwan often use other systems (Chan, Chen or Tan). See Chinese name order for how this plays out on Western forms.

Parents are also encouraged to avoid characters so rare that government and bank computer systems can't display them. This is one practical reason why everyday names stick to familiar characters.

What this means for you

If you only need your existing name written in Chinese, a transliteration such as 艾米丽 for Emily is enough. Try the free converter.

If you want a name that Chinese speakers will read as a Chinese name, it needs a real family name, a well-chosen given name and a check for sound and connotation. Read how to choose a Chinese name, or browse real Chinese names for ideas.

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