Chinese Naming Customs

Online Tools

 * Behind the Name: Chinese Surnames
 * Behind the Name: Chinese Given Names

Surnames
Chinese personal names are names used by those from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and other parts of the Chinese-speaking world such as Singapore. Due to China's historical dominance in East Asia and Vietnam, many names used in Korea and Vietnam are adaptations of Chinese names or have historical roots in Chinese, with appropriate adaptation to accommodate linguistic differences.

Modern Chinese names consist of a family name (xìngshì; 姓氏), which comes first and is usually but not always monosyllabic, followed by a given name (míng; 名), which is almost always disyllabic, consisting of two characters. Prior to the 21st century, most educated Chinese men also utilized a "courtesy name" or "style name" (zì; 字) by which they were known among those outside their family and closest friends. Respected artists or poets will sometimes also use a professional "art name" (hào; 號) among their social peers.

Origins of Names
According to Mr. Kiang Kang Hu, author of the book Genealogy and origin of Chinese family names, there were 18 sources from which surnames were derived:


 * The name of a dynasty (Tang)
 * Feudal territory or division (Chiang, Huang)
 * Political district (Hong)
 * Town (Yin, Su)
 * Rural villages (Lu, Yen)
 * Cross-roads and stations (Mi)
 * Suburbs of direction (Tung-shiang, Xi-men)
 * Historical personage (Chin, Fu)
 * Use of a man's social name for a family name (Fang, Kung)
 * A custom of adopting the appellation applied to a relative (Meng, Mi)
 * Clans or tribes (So, Chang)
 * Official posts (Shih, Shuai)
 * Titles of nobility (Wang, Hou)
 * Occupations of trades (Wu, Tao)
 * Objects (Chu, Pu)
 * Posthumous titles of rulers (Wen)
 * Adding a diminutive to the parent name (Wang-tsu, Gong-sun)
 * Name of contempt applied to an evil-doer by a ruler (Fu, Mang)

Histories of Chinese Surnames in Wikipedia
Wikipedia has a number of very useful articles about Chinese surnames, detailing their origins, histories, and distribution in present-day China and sometimes beyond. You can view this example to see what one of the articles may have in it.

Yuan (surname)

Many other pages about Chinese surnames can be found on this category listing page on Wikipedia.

Chinese language surnames

Taiwan
Taiwanese names are often rendered into English using the Wade-Giles transcription system.

Given Names

 * Chinese given names (名字, míngzi) show much greater diversity than the surnames, while still being restricted almost universally to one or two syllables. Today, two-character names are more common and make up more than 80% of Chinese names.
 * Given names resonant of qualities which are perceived to be either masculine or feminine are frequently given, with males being linked with strength and firmness and females with beauty and flowers.
 * It is considered bad form to name a child after a famous person.
 * Similarly, owing to the traditional naming taboos, it is very uncommon in China to name a child directly after a relative, since such children would permit junior family members to inappropriately use the personal names of senior ones.
 * Many personal names reflect periods of Chinese history. For example, following the victory of the Communists in the Civil War, many Chinese bore "revolutionary names" such as Qiangguo (強國, lit. "Strong Nation" or "Strengthening the Nation") or Tungfung (東風, lit. "Eastern Wind").
 * Similarly, on Taiwan, it used to be common to incorporate one of the four characters of the name "Republic of China" (中華民國, Zhōnghuá Mínguó) into masculine names.
 * Periodic fad names like Aoyun (奧運; "Olympics") also appear.
 * Owing to both effects, there has also been a recent trend in China to hire fortune tellers to change people's names to new ones more in accordance with traditional Taoist and five element practices. In creating a new Chinese name, it is sometimes the practice to analyze the number of strokes in the characters used in the potential name and attempt to use characters that produce specific totals of strokes.

Generation names
In some Chinese families, one of the two characters in the personal name is shared among members of a generation, either of the same sex, or less frequently for both sexes. These generation names may be an indicator for a familial relationship or help to determine generations within a family, but this is by no means a definitive way to linkindividuals. For example:
 * 1st child = YANG Qingzhao
 * 2nd child = YANG Qingxi (Qing is the generation name)

For Further Reading

 * Chinese name in Wikipedia
 * Book Of Hundred Surnames in Wikipedia
 * Chinese Surname in Wikipedia
 * Wade-Giles transcription system in Wikipedia

FamilySearch Library
Additional sources are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog: