How Chinese names work: surname first, then one or two characters

A Chinese name is a family name of one character, followed by a given name of one or two characters, and it is always said and written in that order: surname first. 李安然 is Lǐ (the family) Ānrán (the person). The whole name is two or three syllables, and every syllable is a character with a meaning of its own. That structure is the thing to get right; the rest is choosing good characters.

The family name comes first

The surname is inherited and comes from a small, old set. About 3,000 surnames exist, but the hundred or so collected in the Song-dynasty primer 百家姓 (Bǎijiāxìng, "Hundred Family Surnames") cover the great majority of people; 王 (Wáng), 李 (Lǐ), 张 (Zhāng), 刘 (Liú) and 陈 (Chén) alone account for roughly a third of China. A surname is one character in almost every case. Two-character surnames such as 诸葛 (Zhūgě) or 欧阳 (Ōuyáng) exist and are famous precisely because they are rare.

When an English speaker takes a Chinese name, the surname is usually chosen to echo the first sound of their own family name: Watson becomes 王 or 汪, Miller becomes 米, Lee is simply 李. It is a courtesy to the ear, and it makes the name easy for Chinese friends to remember.

The population figures are rounded from the 2020 census summaries published by China's Ministry of Public Security; the English echoes are the ones we use when proposing names.

The given name carries the meaning

The given name (名, míng) is one or two characters chosen by the parents, and this is where a name says something. Chinese given names are not drawn from a fixed list the way Western first names are; any character with a good meaning and a good sound can be used, which is why two people called 安然 may be the only two in their city. Parents pick for meaning (安 "peace", 然 "so, natural"), for sound (the tones should rise and fall pleasantly), and for how the characters look together when written.

Two-character given names are the norm today; one-character given names (李白, 王菲) were commoner in the past and feel a little more classical now. Three-character given names are not used.

Some conventions parents follow, and we follow them too when we propose a name:

• Common characters only. Rare characters look learned but nobody can type or pronounce them.
• No awkward homophones. 史珍香 sounds like 屎真香 ("the dung smells great"); every Chinese parent has a story like this.
• The given name should not read as an ordinary word. 大力 is "strength", 小花 is "little flower"; a reader sees a phrase, not a person.
• Nothing that is already a famous person's name, unless that is the point.

How a name is spoken and written

Spoken, the surname comes first and the given name follows without a pause: Lǐ Ānrán. Chinese people address each other by the full name, or by the given name among friends, or by the surname with a title (李老师, "Teacher Li"). There is no "first name" in the Western sense; if a form abroad asks for one, a Chinese person writes the given name.

Written, the name is two or three characters with no space, 李安然. In pinyin, the romanisation used in mainland China, the surname and the given name are separate words and the given name's characters are joined: Lǐ Ānrán. Tone marks (ā, á, ǎ, à) are part of the pronunciation; without them a name can be mistaken for another. Chinese names on passports and in most English text drop the tones, so you will see Li Anran.

What makes a name sound real

A Chinese reader judges a name in a second, and three things make the difference.

1. The shape: one surname from the familiar set, then one or two characters. 艾米丽·沃森 (a six-character transliteration of Emily Watson) fails this test before anyone reads the characters.
2. The characters: common, positive, and not forming a word. A name a Chinese parent could have chosen.
3. The sound: tones that vary. 王艾美 (Wáng Àiměi: rising, falling, falling-rising) sounds better than three syllables on the same tone.

This is the standard we use when we propose names, and it is why we propose three: one that stays close to the sound of your own name, one that carries a meaning you asked for, and one with a classical or modern feel, so you can choose by ear.

Questions

Do Chinese people have middle names?

No. A name is surname plus given name, and the given name of two characters is one unit, not a first and a middle name. Some families use a "generation name": one of the two given-name characters shared by all siblings or cousins of the same generation.

Why do some Chinese people use an English name?

For convenience with English speakers, who find the tones and the surname-first order hard. The English name is informal; the Chinese name is the legal one.

Can a foreigner have a Chinese name?

Yes, and it is the normal thing for anyone who studies Chinese, works in China or marries into a Chinese family. Teachers often give one on the first day of class. A good one is a real name, not a transliteration.

How many characters should my Chinese name have?

Two or three: a one-character surname and a one- or two-character given name. Four or more characters read as a transliteration of a foreign name.

Names and characters in this guide follow the rules we use when proposing names: common simplified characters, a surname from the Hundred Family Surnames, no awkward homophones. Where a guide says a native speaker reviewed it, the review date is above.