101 Chinese Modern names
A list of 101 Chinese names in Modern day setting (mostly), with meanings provided. All spellings are based on Mandarin (minus inflections). The contents here have been converted into a Chinese Name generator.
Gender neutral
- Lou Xing Chen (Xing Chen is literally star dust)
- Yi Ying (Ying means flowers or brave)
- Bai Ru Xue (literally White as Snow, a feminine name in modern days but more gender neutral in ancient times)
- Chen Kai En (Kai means triumphant, En can mean kindness or favour, together probably meaning gratitude at having triumphed)
- Hong Fu Shun (Fu means good fortune, Shun means smooth)
- An Tian (An as a character means quiet, peaceful or contentment, Tian means tranquil or remaining unperturbed, sounding better as a female name)
- Gao Si Yue (Si means think or consider while Yue means leap, together meaning 'seeking progression')
- Meng Jing Ping (Jing means view while Ping has the meaning of peace and safety, name arising from aspiration for the upcoming era)
- Qian Qian (together, meaning Money is Shallow)
- Tang Wei Wen (Wei means tiny or slightly, Wen refers to literature, possibly a name encapsulating modesty)
- Wei Cun Shan (Cun means to possess while Shan means goodness as opposed to evil)
- Rong Chen (Chen means morning)
- Yue Le (Le means happy, in writing it is same as the surname Yue)
- Fang Yu Jing (Yu means rain while Jing here refers to a scene, probably a name to commemorate a scene that occurred in rain in which some significant event happened)
- Hai Ruo Feng (Ruo means like while Feng means wind, could be named after another person with the name Feng or wishing the child to be free like the wind)
- Fan Hao Ming (Hao means great or vast for the male while for female, a character with the same inflection but slightly different in writing means white or luminous)
- Chu Yi Bai (Yi means also while Bai means white)
- Wang Yi Xian (Yi means exemplary while Xian means virtuous)
- Si Tu Wen (Wen means warm or mild)
- Li Huai Zhen (Huai meaning to possess while Zhen refers to anything True)
- Zhao Si Jia (Si means thinking of while Jia refers to home or family)
- Qu Sang (Sang means mulberry)
- Yin Zhu Li (Zhu Li is literally 'Bamboo Hedge', possibly conveying the meaning of someone not moved much by materialism or having a wish for living a simple plain life)
- Gao Zhang Xi (Zhang means to control while Xi is West)
- Hua Dan (Dan has the meaning of pale, light or tasteless but could also be calm and unfazed when dealing with a situation)
- Ke Chang Xi (Chang means frequently while Xi means a happy event)
- Chen Ting (For males, the character means a building often used as a resting place in ancient China. For female, a slightly different character in writing but pronounced the same means graceful)
- Xing Su Wen (Su refers to books or calligraphy. Wen refers to literature)
- Xiang Xing (Xing means star)
- Huang Le Xiao (Le means happy while Xiao is a bamboo flute played vertically)
- Luo Heng (Heng is the gem of a pendant worn by aristocrats and high officials in ancient China)
- Shi Jie (for a male, Jie means nimble whereas for the female, it is part of the title for a female official in ancient China)
- Shen Fu (Fu has many uses associated with doing something again such as revise, resume, reinstate but can also mean complicated)
Male
- Si Ma Dao (Dao means path, doctrine or refers to Taoism)
- Jiang Zhi Li (Zhi means intellect/wisdom while Li means truth or sometimes logic, together conveying the wish for the person so named to be intelligent and simultaneously uphold basic Truths of behaving (as espoused by Confucious and other traditional values passed down)
- Feng Wei Li (Wei means great while Li means standing, together conveying the wish for the person so named to be standing tall as a Great Man)
- Zhang Xin Cheng (Xin means belief while Cheng is honesty)
- Qin Lang (Lang means clear, usually referring to weather)
- Ning Zhi Yuan (Zhi Yuan means reaching to afar, together echoing the dogma 'Ning Jing Zhi Yuan' which espouses one could only reach high aspirations from being quiet and focused')
- Huang Jing Xian (Jing is respect while Xian here refers to ancestors)
- Zhang Li Qian (Li is courtesy while Qian is modesty)
- Liu Qian He (Qian He means thousand cranes)
- Zhao Liang (Liang means bright, together sounds like brighten or light up)
- Pan Wang Xing (Wang Xing together meaning 'hoping or looking forward to prosperity')
- Ren Hai Sheng (Hai means ocean while Sheng means birth, probably named for having been born near the sea)
- Zhou Ri Hua (Ri is the Sun while Hua has the meaning of magnificent and also an abbreviation term for anything Chinese)
- Li Wen Xuan (Wen refers to literature while Xuan means high or lofty or refers to a small room with windows)
- Qi Fu Cheng (Fu means wealthy while Cheng means city, together conveying ambition to be the most wealthy at a city level)
- Zheng Hong Qi (Hong Qi means Red Flag, a name of strong Communist association)
- Shan Yi Yong (Yi means resolute while Yong means brave)
- Han Zhi Jian (Zhi refers to the will or aspirations, Jian means resolute, together meaning an iron will)
- Yuan Hang (Yuan means far while Hang is a voyage by boat)
- Shen Yi Da (Yi means leisurely or outstanding while Da means being broad-minded as opposed to always counting gains and losses)
- Ma Zhi Guang (Zhi here refers to aspirations while Guang means wide)
- Bao Guan De (Guan means champion or first while De refers to one's virtues)
- Ji Yao (Yao means shine or honour)
- Mo Teng (Teng means to soar)
- Wei Cheng Lin (Cheng here means to carry on or inherit. Lin is technically a female Chi Ling, a mythical animal of good omen that is part of the Four Lings but often used as abbreviated form for the whole species in modern days)
- Lu Ming Han (Ming means bright while Han means vast)
- Zhong Xi Yi (Xi means to practice or revise while while Yi means justice)
- Hu Zhen Yu (Zhen means to shake whereas Yu refers to the universe)
- Xia Tian (Tian means sky, the whole name together means Summer)
- Tong Xu Guang (Xu means the rising sun while Guang means light)
- Jing Cang Feng (Cang means to hide whereas Feng refers to the cutting edge of a sword)
- Qiu Shou Ye (Shou means to maintain or defend whereas Ye refers to a trade or enterprise)
- Yun He (He means river, together the name is literally 'Cloud River')
- Ou Yang Chong (Chong means high or to worship)
Female
- Yu Jia Xin (Jia Xin means Joyful Household)
- Xi Ya Xin (Ya Xin means graceful fragrance)
- Qin Qing (Qing means fine and clear in terms of a day/the sky)
- Lei Nian Rou (Nian is missing as in missing someone while Rou means tenderness or soft, together this person is named in remembrance of someone named Rou)
- Ning Jing (literally tranquil or quiet)
- Su Zhi Chiau (Zhi is a type of sweet smelling grass. Chiau is wheat)
- Wang Chu chu (Chu means clear)
- Kang Pian Pian (Pian pian refers to gracefulness in movement, manners or appearance)
- Dong Shuang Yi (Shuang means double while Yi means joyful)
- Li Shu Fen (Shu means lady-like while Fen means fragrance)
- Wu Mei Qi (Mei means beautiful while Qi means fine jade)
- Fu Zhi Yin (Zhi means son or child or sometimes used as a pronoun for referring to a person. Yin means mattress, often used as an adjective describing the softness and vibrancy of a grassy area)
- Zhong Yi Ting (Yi can mean lean on and is associated with being compliant as a trait or attitude. Ting means graceful)
- Shi Wan Rong (Wan means amiable or meek, Rong refers to the appearance of the face)
- Cheng Chuo Na (Chuo and Na both mean delicate in slightly different ways)
- Mi Juan Er (Juan means beautiful while Er here refers to child)
- Huo Yong Shi (Yong Shi means reciting poetry)
- Hou Xi Zhen (Xi means to cherish while Zhen is anything true)
- Miao Jing Shu (Jing means still while Shu can refer to books or calligraphy)
- Xu Jia Min (Jia means praise while Min means agile or nimble)
- Bao Die Wu (Die means butterfly while Wu means dance)
- Gan Meng Yin (Meng means dream while Yin is sound or note, together can be taken as 'Notes from a Dream' that praise one's voice or 'Dreaming of Yin')
- Lin Yu Jie (Yu means jade while Jie means clean, the upper part of the term 'Yu Jie Bing Qing' which is used to describe a maiden of purity)
- Zhu Ya Han (Ya means graceful while Han refers to self-constraint)
- Han Bi Yu (Bi Yu means green jade)
- Men Lan Shu (Lan means orchid while Shu means book or calligraphy)
- Huang En Hui (En Hui together could mean favour or grace)
- Deng Chan (Chan is cicada)
- Jiang Ke Yi (Ke usually means can but can also refer to being worthy. Yi can refer to appearance or manners)
- Ran Zhen Yue (Zhen means to attain to a high level whereas Yue is the character for Moon)
- Sun Qin Yun (Qin is the general name for a class of plucked instruments like the zither, in modern days also the short form for piano while Yun refers to rhyme or a musical sound)
- Yang Pan Pan (Pan means expecting as in looking forward to or hoping for)
- Hu Xiao Zhen (Xiao means little while Zhen means precious)
- Xie Yun Shu (Yun means clouds while Shu means relaxed, comfortable or stretching, also referring to the latter part of a semi-poem that describes the ultimate example of a lady who remains unfazed and self-assured in all situations)
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? Responses (10)
Incredibly useful to me!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS!!! :-D
Question, how subtly (or drastically) different would names be in say...late Ming/early Ching period, as compared to these modern day ones?
Well, I would say quite different although there are variations depending on regions as well. First of all, throughout the period classified as the Feudal Era, males of wealth or upper classes have three names (a little name that only family knows usually, an actual name for use in official documents etc. and a kind of social name' for friends and acquaintances to call him by) whereas for females, they might have the little name and an official name but socially, they are only referred to by their surnames (this might differ between dynasties but seems to be so for a long time). In modern days, everyone tend to have just one name (although some regions have the practice of giving babies milk names' regardless of gender eg. Shanghai). Then, there are differences in the types of characters used in naming. For example, a lot of commoner parents named their children as 'a number plus a gender-specific appendage meaning guy/girl' In modern days, this practice has died out altogether since it probably evolved from the parents being illiterate. Also, in really ancient days (pre Tang dynasty), males' official names (don't sure about female since only a few have their full names recorded) tend to be shorter as in having only one character whereas for later periods that's still before the Republic, there's a split in there being both 1 character and 2 character names (social names, though, always contain 2 characters). In HK (Hong Kong) and Taiwan, most people have 2 characters in their names nowadays. In China, I think there's higher proportions of 1 character names.
btw, I will be producing an archaic Chinese names list as an extension but it would take some time because of the three-names thing (and crazy woman wants to do more extensive entries rather than list form and eventually turn them into a new generator as well but obviously that would take a while).
Let's take the Five Elders of folklore as an example...
Ji Sin, Ng Mui, Bak Mei (Pai Mei!!!!!!!!!!), Fung Dao Dak, Mui Hin
They do not seem radically different and they stem from 17th century stylings.
I had to look up what you meant by the Five Elders. They were apparently all Buddhist monks or Taoist so except for one (Fung Dao Dak) who still maintained his own surname, the rest of them really went by their religious names which had no accompanying surname (Bak Mei for example meant 'white eyebrows' but I don't think his birth surname was the Chinese character for White). I was thinking of actual historical people in my answer. Also, when you talk about difference, I was thinking in terms of the character used etc (I agree that some characters crop up in both ancient and modern names such as Sin which meant goodness as opposed to evil, Dak which meant virtue etc. but there are also some used in modern names that would not appear in ancient days such as Yu which meant universe or Ao which meant pride- since modesty was considered a virtue in ancient times, it might be taken as a sign of arrogance to include it in a name whereas in modern days it would be taken to mean that the parents wish the child to grow up to be their pride. And like I said, a bunch of popular names for commoners then have died out in modern days) and the three-names aspect etc. But if by difference, you really mean how do they sound different? Then, I would say in general, little to no difference. What distinguishes the names across the two eras then would be in the subtle nuances underlying the names.
Thanks Moonlake. Much obliged!
Is this referenced somewhere and I missed it? 'Ma' usually referred in the past (not sure on now) to Chinese Muslims. As in, that was a very common surname for Chinese Muslims, stemming from Mohammedan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_(surname)
All I knew before you alerted me to the Muslim link was that 'Ma' meant 'horse' as a character. Apparently, it's a normal Chinese surname as well as an changed-Muslim surname like you suggested.
The 101 list here is all Han (Han being the predominant ethnicity in China, which is what generally people think of as Chinese in case you don't know) Chinese names as far as I know. I did not put any reference in this sub because I just wanted to create a simple list at this point in case people need to drop a Chinese name into a game (All the names were randomly thought up or taken from celebrity names). The one following up for an ancient setting will be etymology centered and provide an explanation of how each surname arises as well as the meaning of however many names each person has. I might stop at 30 for that one rather than 101. Now I can only do 4 per day and that's already taking me ages. I will be 1/3 of the way there after today.
Such a useful submission. Awesome!
Great stuff!
Now where is the generator of which you speak?
Ergh.... was in the process of uploading it but then got an error. Retro gleaning of the chat reveal that the culprit was that I use the rightward leaning slash as the divider so I had to go to the notepad file and manually replace all the slashes with asterisks. Again, got sidetracked...