| ˙The Formation of a Chinese Name |
| Different from English names, in a Chinese name, the surname comes first, and then is followed by the given name: |
| e.g. | Surname + Given name | | 陈 | 平 | | chén | píng | | surname | given name | | 王 | 梦婷 | | wáng | mèng tíng |
| Download | |
| As you see, the Chinese names can be two-characters or three-characters . It's not so common to have four-characters in a Chinese name whereas it's more common in the Japanese culture. |
| ˙The Top 10 Common 10 Chinese Surnames are: | | 1 | 李 | 6 | 杨 | | lǐ | | yáng | | 2 | 王 | 7 | 赵 | | wáng | | zhào | | 3 | 张 | 8 | 黄 | | zhāng | | huáng | | 4 | 刘 | 9 | 周 | | liú | | zhōu | | 5 | 陈 | 10 | 吴 | | chén | | wú |
| Download | |
| ˙The Connotation Carried by the Name |
| Each given name has carried the parent's hope for the child, or what kind of person they wish their child to become in the future. Besides the consideration of the meaning, they also take account into the characters' pronunciation to make the name sound good to listen. |
Here let's see a few examples: |
| Female name | Character | Connotation | Possible Chinese female name | | 佳 | excellent and good | 王佳 | | jiā | wáng jiā | | 静 | quiet | 刘静 | | jìng | liú jìng | | 丽 | beautiful | 李丽 | | lì | lǐ lì | | 梦 | dream | 陈梦 | | mèng | chén mèng |
| Download | |
| Male name | Character | Connotation | Possible Chinese female name | | 龙 | dragon | 赵龙 | | lóng | zhào lóng | | 强 | strong | 张强 | | qiáng | zhāng qiáng | | 伟 | great | 周伟 | | wěi | zhōu wěi | | 晨 | morning | 杨晨 | | chén | yáng chén |
| Download | |
| ˙Now time to give yourself a real Chinese name! |
| Now you know how a Chinese name looks like. We suggest you to pick up the surname first, for example, if your own name begins with the letter L, you can choose 刘 (liú) as a surname. And for the given name, please think well what kind of image you want to convey to the person, or what kind of person you want to become. After you come up with the key words for your name, for example, you want your name sound like that you are a clever and smart person, then you can search the related Chinese meaning in the dictionary, for instance, clever can be 聪(cōng) or 睿 (ruì), but please seek advice from your native Chinese friends to double check before you finalise your name! |
