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Cover of the free Chinese names list PDF from WillyChina — 300 Chinese names with meanings
Mandarin Chinese · PDF Download + Audio

Chinese Names List — 300 Names with Meanings

PDF · NamesAny level🔊 Audio on every name

Every name below is a real Chinese given name, written in characters, with pinyin, its literal meaning and native audio. 150 for girls, 150 for boys, grouped by theme.

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Print-ready A412 pages, exact A4 sizing
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Cover of the free Chinese names list PDF from WillyChina — 300 Chinese names with meanings, 150 for girls and 150 for boys
The printable Chinese names list — 300 names grouped by theme, one theme to a page.
Get the free PDF — all 300 names

Includes 124 surnames and a pronunciation guide. Tell us where to send it and it’s yours.

The full Chinese names list

Tap ▶ on any name to hear it spoken by a native speaker. Filter by girls, boys or theme, or search by character, pinyin or meaning.

Showing all 300 names

How Chinese names are built

How a Chinese name is built — the surname 王 Wáng first, then the given name 雅婷 Yǎtíng, shown with pinyin and meanings
Surname first, given name second. Every name in the Chinese names list above is a given name — pair it with a surname to make a full name.

A Chinese name runs surname first, given name second. 王雅婷 is the surname 王 (Wáng) followed by the given name 雅婷 (Yǎtíng) — the opposite order to English, and the reason a Chinese person introduced as “Wang Yating” is Ms Wang, not Ms Yating.

Given names are one or two characters, and each character is chosen for what it means. There is no fixed pool of names the way English has Sarah or David: parents pick characters whose meanings suit the child they hope for. That is why every entry in the list above carries a meaning — the meaning is the point, not a footnote.

Two-character names are the most common today. 雅 (yǎ, elegant) plus 婷 (tíng, graceful) gives 雅婷. Pairing works on sound as much as sense: characters that share a tone can sound flat together, which is why 雅婷 (3rd then 2nd tone) sits more comfortably than two third tones in a row.

Girls’ names and boys’ names

The split in this list follows convention rather than rule. Girls’ names lean towards nature, beauty, grace and poetry — 雪 (xuě, snow), 兰 (lán, orchid), 诗 (shī, poetry). Boys’ names lean towards strength, ambition, virtue and vision — 伟 (wěi, great), 强 (qiáng, strong), 志 (zhì, ambition). Plenty of characters are used for either, and modern parents increasingly ignore the convention altogether.

Surnames

The convention is old and well documented: the structure of Chinese given names has stayed surname-first for well over two thousand years, and our free Chinese dictionary is a good place to check the meaning of any character you are considering.

There are only about a hundred surnames in common use, and the three most frequent — 王 (Wáng), 李 (Lǐ) and 张 (Zhāng) — account for a very large share of the population between them. The PDF includes 124 of them with pronunciation. If you want the detail, our guide to the 100 most common Chinese surnames covers where they came from.

Choosing a name for yourself

If you are picking a Chinese name for your own use, three things matter more than the meaning you like best.

It has to sound like a name. A beautiful meaning assembled from characters nobody uses in names reads as odd — the equivalent of calling yourself Moonbeam Justice in English. Every name in this list is one that Chinese people actually use.

It should sit near your own name in sound. Most people choose characters that echo their English name, which makes it easier for you to answer to and easier for others to connect the two.

Say it out loud before you commit. Tones change everything, and a name that reads well can be awkward to say. That is what the audio on each card is for. If you want help, our free Chinese name generator builds a full name around your own, and the guide to choosing a Chinese name walks through it properly.

Going further with this Chinese names list

This Chinese names list is a starting point. If you want the longer write-ups, with the characters broken down individually, see 150 Chinese names for girls and 150 Chinese names for boys.

And if the characters themselves are new to you, the character worksheet generator will print a tracing sheet for any name on this page, so you can learn to write it by hand.

Not sure the name you picked sounds right?

A name can read beautifully and still land awkwardly out loud. Thirty minutes with a native speaker will tell you how yours sounds to a Chinese ear — and fix your tones while we are at it.

Book a free 30-minute intro call

FAQs

Are these real Chinese names?

Yes. Every given name in the list is in genuine use in mainland China, and each is written with the characters a Chinese person would use. The meanings given are the literal meanings of those characters.

Is the PDF free?

Yes. All 300 given names, 124 surnames and a pronunciation guide, free. Tell us where to send it and the download starts straight away.

Can I use a girls’ name if I am male, or the other way round?

Some characters are strongly associated with one gender and would read oddly on the other, but many are neutral. If you are unsure, pick from the section that matches and you will be safe.

How do I say the tone marks?

Tap ▶ on any card to hear the name spoken. If you want the system explained, our Mandarin tones cheatsheet covers all four tones with audio.

Do Chinese names have middle names?

No. A Chinese name is a surname of one character (occasionally two) followed by a given name of one or two characters. There is no middle name, and the given name is not split.

Can you help me choose one?

Yes — that is what the name generator is for, and if you would like a person rather than a tool, get in touch.