Chinese first and last name. Chinese names

Fact one. The surname is written in the first place.

The surname of the Chinese is written and pronounced first, that is, the head of China - Xi Jinping - has the surname Xi, and the name - Jinping. The surname is not inclined. With the Chinese, all the most important things are "brought forward" - from the most important to the least significant, both in dates (year-month-day) and names (last name-first name). The surname, belonging to the family is very important for the Chinese, who make up the family tree up to the "50th generation". For residents of Hong Kong (South China), the name is sometimes brought forward or instead of a Chinese name, they call an English one - for example, David Mack. By the way, about 60 years ago, the use of a hyphen was actively practiced in sinology to indicate the boundary of Chinese syllables in names: Mao Tse-tung, Sun Yat-sen. Yat-sen here is a Cantonese entry of the name of a South Chinese revolutionary, which often confuses Sinologists who are unaware of the existence of such a dialect.

Fact two. 50 percent of Chinese have 5 main surnames.

Wang, Li, Zhang, Zhou, Chen - these are the five main Chinese surnames, the last Chen is the main surname in Guangdong (South China), almost every third Chen is here. Wang 王 - means "prince" or "king" (head of the region), Li 李 - pear tree, the dynasty that ruled China in the Tang dynasty, Zhang 张 - archer, Zhou 周 - "cycle, circle", ancient imperial family, Chen 陈 - "old, aged" (about wine, soy sauce, etc.). Unlike Western people, Chinese surnames are homogeneous, but in the names, the Chinese give their imagination space.

Fact three. Most Chinese surnames are monosyllabic.

Two-syllable surnames include rare surnames Sima, Ouyang and a number of others. However, a few years ago, the Chinese government allowed dual surnames, where the child was given the surname of the father and mother - which led to interesting surnames such as Wang-Ma and others. Most Chinese surnames are monosyllabic, and 99% of them can be found in the ancient text "Baijia Xing" - "100 Surnames", however, the real number of surnames is much larger, almost any noun can be found among the surnames of the 1.3 billion Chinese population.

Fact four. The choice of a Chinese name is limited only by the imagination of the parents.

Chinese names are mostly chosen by meaning, or by the advice of a fortune teller. You can hardly guess that each hieroglyph refers to a particular element, and all of them together should bring good luck. In China, there is a whole science of choosing a name, so if the name of the interlocutor is very strange, then most likely it was chosen by a fortuneteller. Interestingly, earlier in Chinese villages, a child could be called a dissonant name in order to deceive evil spirits. It was assumed that evil spirits would think that such a child was not valued in the family, and therefore would not covet him. Most often, the choice of a name preserves the old Chinese tradition of the game of meanings, for example, the founder of Alibaba is named Ma Yun, (Ma is a horse, Yun is a cloud), but "yun" in a different tone means "luck", most likely, his parents invested this is the meaning of his name, but sticking out something or speaking openly in China is a sign of bad taste.

Fifth fact. Chinese names can be divided into male and female.

As a rule, for male names, hieroglyphs are used with the meaning "study", "mind", "strength", "forest", "dragon", and female names use hieroglyphs to denote flowers and jewelry, or simply the hieroglyph "beautiful".

In ancient times, the Chinese knew two types of surnames: surnames (in Chinese: 姓-xìng) and clan names (氏-shì).

Chinese surnames are patrilineal, i.e. passed down from father to children. Chinese women usually keep their maiden name after marriage. Sometimes the husband's surname is written before his own surname: Huang Wang Zeqing.

Historically, only Chinese men possessed xìng (surname), in addition to shì (clan name); women had only a clan name and after marriage they took the husband's xìng.

Prior to the Warring States Period (5th century BC), only the royal family and the aristocratic elite could have surnames. Historically there was also a distinction between xing and shi. Xing were surnames carried directly by members of the royal family.

Prior to the Qin Dynasty (3rd century BC), China was largely a feudal society. As fiefs were divided and subdivided among heirs, additional surnames known as shi were created to distinguish seniority of descent. Thus a noble could have both shi and xing. After the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, family names gradually passed to the lower classes and the distinction between xing and shi faded.

The surnames shi, many of which have survived to the present day, came about in one of the following ways:

1. From xing. They were usually kept by members of the royal family. Approximately six common xing only Jiang(姜) and Yao(姚) survived as common surnames.

2. By imperial decree. During the imperial period, it was common to give subjects the surname of the emperor.

3. From the names of states. Many ordinary people took the name of their state to show their belonging to it or their national and ethnic identity. Examples include Dream (宋), Wu (吴), Chen(陳). Not surprisingly, due to the mass of the peasantry, they are one of the most common Chinese surnames.

4. From the name of fiefs or place of origin. Example - Dee, Marquis of Ouyanting, whose descendants took the surname ouyang(歐陽). There are about two hundred examples of surnames of this type, often two-syllable surnames, but few have survived to this day.

5. On behalf of an ancestor.

6. In ancient times, syllables meng (孟), zhong (仲), shu(叔) and zhi(季) were used to denote the first, second, third and fourth sons in a family. Sometimes these syllables became surnames. Of them meng is the most famous.

7. From the name of the profession. For example, Tao(陶) - "potter" or Wu(巫) - "shaman".

8. From the name of the ethnic group. Such surnames were sometimes taken by the non-Han peoples of China.

Surnames in China are distributed unevenly. In northern China, the most common is Van(王), worn by 9.9% of the population. Then Lee (李), Zhang(张 / 張) and Liu(刘 / 劉). In the south, the most common surname Chen(陈 / 陳), covering 10.6% of the population. Then Lee (李), Zhang(张 / 張) and Liu(刘 / 劉). On South Chen(陈 / 陳) is the most common, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Then Lee (李), Juan (黄), Lin(林) and Zhang(张/張). In the major cities along the Yangtze River, the most common surname is Lee(李) with 7.7% of speakers. It is followed by Van (王), Zhang (张 / 張), Chen(陈 / 陳) and Liu (刘 / 劉).

A 1987 study found that there were over 450 surnames used in Beijing that are widely used in Beijing, but there were fewer than 300 surnames in Fujian. Despite the presence of thousands of surnames in China, 85% of the population has one of the hundred surnames, which make up 5% of the family fund.

A 1990 study showed that 96% of people in a sample of 174,900 have 200 surnames, 4% have 500 other surnames.

The three most common surnames in mainland China are Li, Wang, Zhang. They are worn respectively by 7.9%, 7.4% and 7.1% of people. This is about 300 million. Therefore, these three surnames are the most frequent in the world. In Chinese there is an expression "three Zhang, four Li", which means "any".

Most common surnames in China have one syllable. However, about 20 surnames have two syllables, for example Syma (司馬), ouyang(歐陽). There are also surnames with three or more syllables. By their origin, they are not Han, but, for example, Manchu. Example: last name Aisin Gioro(愛新覺羅) of the Manchu imperial family.

In China, all namesakes are considered relatives. Until 1911, marriages between namesakes were forbidden, regardless of the existence of real family relations between them.

© Nazarov Alois

The full naming of Chinese always includes the family name (姓 - xìng) and the given name (名字 - míngzì). And it is important to remember - the surname is always indicated before the name.

Chinese surnames

Usually consist of one character (hieroglyph). For example, the most famous, 李 - Lǐ (literally means "plum"), 王 - Wáng (literally "prince", "ruler"). But sometimes there are surnames of two hieroglyphs. For example, 司马 - Sīmǎ (literally, "voivode" - "govern" + "horse"), 欧阳 - Ouyáng.

There are 3,000 Chinese surnames in total. The most common among them are: 李 - Lǐ, 陈 - Chén, 刘 - Liú, 杨 - Yáng, 黄 - Huáng, 张 - Zhāng, 赵 - Zhào, 周 - Zhōu, 王 - Wáng, 吴 - Wú.

Chinese names

They differ from European ones in that they are rarely repeated. In China, there is no list of names at all. Parents themselves come up with names for their children. The choice of a name can be influenced by certain traditions, family signs, superstitions.

And yet, due to the large number of bearers of names and surnames, there is a certain shortage of surnames. In addition, fewer surnames themselves are being used. So, if earlier there were about 12,000 surnames, now there are about 3,000 of them. About 350 million people manage with just five surnames: Li, Wang, Zhang, Liu and Chen. At the same time, many people with the same last name also have the same first name. For example, in 1996, there were more than 2,300 people living in Tianjin who are called Zhangli and who spelled this name the same way. And even more people who spelled this name in different ways. This is a serious inconvenience, since they can even arrest an innocent person, or close someone else's account, or even perform an operation on someone who did not need it!

By some Chinese names, you can distinguish whether it is male or female. But often by the name itself it is impossible to guess whether it belongs to a man or a woman.

Chinese names also consist of one or two. In transcription, it is customary to write the surname and first name separately. For example, Sīmǎ Qiān - Sima Qian.

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Fact one. The surname is written in the first place.

The surname of the Chinese is written and pronounced first, that is, the head of China - Xi Jinping - has the surname Xi, and the name - Jinping. The surname is not inclined. With the Chinese, all the most important things are "brought forward" - from the most important to the least significant, both in dates (year-month-day) and names (last name-first name). The surname, belonging to the family is very important for the Chinese, who make up the family tree up to the "50th generation". For residents of Hong Kong (South China), the name is sometimes brought forward or instead of a Chinese name, they call an English one - for example, David Mack. By the way, about 60 years ago, the use of a hyphen was actively practiced in sinology to indicate the boundary of Chinese syllables in names: Mao Tse-tung, Sun Yat-sen. Yat-sen here is a Cantonese entry of the name of a South Chinese revolutionary, which often confuses Sinologists who are unaware of the existence of such a dialect.

Fact two. 50 percent of Chinese have 5 main surnames.

Wang, Li, Zhang, Zhou, Chen - these are the five main Chinese surnames, the last Chen is the main surname in Guangdong (South China), almost every third Chen is here. Wang 王 - means "prince" or "king" (head of the region), Li 李 - pear tree, the dynasty that ruled China in the Tang dynasty, Zhang 张 - archer, Zhou 周 - "cycle, circle", ancient imperial family, Chen 陈 - "old, aged" (about wine, soy sauce, etc.). Unlike Western people, Chinese surnames are homogeneous, but in the names, the Chinese give their imagination space.

Fact three. Most Chinese surnames are monosyllabic.

Two-syllable surnames include rare surnames Sima, Ouyang and a number of others. However, a few years ago, the Chinese government allowed dual surnames, where the child was given the surname of the father and mother - which led to interesting surnames such as Wang-Ma and others. Most Chinese surnames are monosyllabic, and 99% of them can be found in the ancient text "Baijia Xing" - "100 Surnames", however, the real number of surnames is much larger, almost any noun can be found among the surnames of the 1.3 billion Chinese population.

Fact four. The choice of a Chinese name is limited only by the imagination of the parents.

Chinese names are mostly chosen by meaning, or by the advice of a fortune teller. You can hardly guess that each hieroglyph refers to a particular element, and all of them together should bring good luck. In China, there is a whole science of choosing a name, so if the name of the interlocutor is very strange, then most likely it was chosen by a fortuneteller. Interestingly, earlier in Chinese villages, a child could be called a dissonant name in order to deceive evil spirits. It was assumed that evil spirits would think that such a child was not valued in the family, and therefore would not covet him. Most often, the choice of a name preserves the old Chinese tradition of the game of meanings, for example, the founder of Alibaba is named Ma Yun, (Ma is a horse, Yun is a cloud), but "yun" in a different tone means "luck", most likely, his parents invested this is the meaning of his name, but sticking out something or speaking openly in China is a sign of bad taste.

Fifth fact. Chinese names can be divided into male and female.

As a rule, for male names, hieroglyphs are used with the meaning "study", "mind", "strength", "forest", "dragon", and female names use hieroglyphs to denote flowers and jewelry, or simply the hieroglyph "beautiful".

The peculiarity of Chinese culture lies in its distinctness from European identity. The country has been developing for several millennia in conditions of isolation from the outside world. This contributed to the fact that the Chinese have their own opinion on the simplest concepts, which for a Westerner look insignificant.

Chinese female names carry meaning, and according to legends, they can influence a person's life. It is also worth mentioning that not only the name itself in China plays a special role, but also the process of its change.

The influence of traditions on the choice of name

The difference between Chinese culture and Russian or any European culture is the difference in attitude to the surname and name of a person. In China, the surname has always played a big role, people call it first of all when they meet. Even an appeal to a person with whom relations do not allow frivolity should contain exactly the surname.

Most Chinese surnames consist of one syllable. On the letter they look like one hieroglyph. The adopted list, according to which surnames used to be distributed, contained only one hundred possible options. Today, this list is much larger, but more than 90% of surnames in China occupy only 10 distinct variants.

But when choosing names, there are almost no restrictions. The main criterion that modern parents pay attention to is sonority. The child is given names consisting of one or more hieroglyphs, which may have a meaning denoting a concept, object, feeling or color.

Meaning of names

The meaning of the name throughout the history of the development of Chinese civilization has been a very serious life guide. It could mean that a person belongs to any caste or clan. Parents tried to name the child the way they would like his life to develop. Since China is a country with highly developed religious influences, parents often chose sacred words or whole sentences as their names.

There are cases when strongly religious people called their children extremely repulsive concepts. One of the popular names in the 16th-18th centuries was the name "Goshen", when parsing it into separate words, you can make a sentence "Leftovers from the dog's table." Not the most pleasant nickname for meeting new people. However, this was done only for the benefit of the child, it was believed that evil spirits would not touch a person who had such a bad fate that he was so named.

In order to somehow limit the not always healthy fantasy, the government had to create a special list that prohibited the use of certain characters in compilation. It includes hieroglyphs related to the following concepts:

• Death.
• Life products.
• Hint of sexual overtones.

Today, no one calls a person in this way, realizing that this can greatly complicate his life. Children can be given the so-called "milk", which serve as an affectionate appeal to the baby at home. Or over time, a person acquires qualities due to which he will be addressed accordingly.

List of female names

Girls in China are named mainly after beautiful concepts that do not need further explanation. Based on:

• Names of precious minerals.
• Flowers.
• Things and events surrounding a person, such as the dawn or the moon.
• Human qualities.

• Ai is love.
• Liling is a jade bell.
• Venkean is a pure girl.
• May - Plum.
• Ehuang is a beautiful August.
• Shang - how much grace.
• Zhaohui is simple wisdom.
• Fenkfan is fragrant.
• Kiaolian - who has gone through a lot.
• Yangling is the swallow forest.

The number of suitable options exceeds several thousand. Because a slight change in one syllable can completely change the meaning of a word.

Male Chinese names

For boys, since ancient times, values ​​\u200b\u200bthat symbolize:

• Provision of life's blessings.
• physical qualities.
• Character qualities.
• Noble goals and professions.
• landscape elements.
• Parting words.

It is very interesting and original when a person reaches certain peaks in things related to his name. In China, a very beautiful legend is widespread, according to which the mother of General Yue Fei called him that when a whole flock of swans descended on the roof during childbirth. She chose for him a hieroglyph that means "flight." The general became famous for his lightning-fast reaction and the mobility that his troops possessed.

Possible options:

• Binven is bright.
• Bay is light.
• Xu - thinking about the environment.
• Yusheng - acting.
• Liwei is the owner of greatness.
• Yun is brave.
• Demin is a merciful soul.
• Jaemin - Revolution.
• Lao - Mature.
• Xu is responsible.

*If you wish, you can use male hieroglyphs in female names. It became popular in the context of the growing strength of feminism.

Chinese surnames

The modern system allows a child to inherit the surname of either parent. This system is similar to the one used in Russia. Mostly the child takes the father's surname, but sometimes the mother's.

Top 10 most common Chinese surnames:

1. Wang.
2. Zheng.
3. Zhao.
4. Zhou.
5. Xun.

It is difficult to imagine that only the owners of the first two surnames in the Celestial Empire, there are more than 400 million people.

How many surnames in China

Due to the difficult situation associated with the low diversity of surnames, the state register, which provides a list of possible options, has been increased. Previously, it included only one hundred possible characters to write, but now this number has been increased several times. However, to solve the current situation, when about one tenth of the population of China has the surname "Li", this reform will not be able to soon.

Popular Chinese names

The trend of the times has always been a decisive factor in determining all aspects of fashion. According to the census, certain character sets are popular, such as:

Men's

• Mingli is dazzlingly light.
• Wenyan - soft with neighbors.
• Lay is thunder.
• Minsh is sensitive and wise.
• Janji is attractive.
• Xanling is a non-empty beauty.
• Zen is exciting.
• Xiobo is a low warrior.
• Zenjong is tall and soft.
• Dzhengshen - willing to achieve more.

Women's

• Xiozhi is a small rainbow.
• Xiokin - light blue.
• Zhu - a lot.
• Hua is happiness.
• Xioli is a young jasmine.
• Rulin - underlying jade.
• Xiolian is a young lotus.
• Xiathong is the morning bell.
• Xiathan is a dawn.
• Mahoning is a great victory.

Chinese rare names

There are several thousand Chinese names, a large number of them does not allow us to make a rating of the rarest. There are even those that are present in one copy. It may be a specific set of characters, such as Waosinjonhareto. If you literally translate it, you get "Born in the morning in a village near the yellow river." And there are hundreds of options.

More attention is drawn to those that, by writing, may seem ordinary to the inhabitants of China and be unique to a Russian person. The following combinations became the heroes of many anecdotes and funny stories:

• Sun Wyn.
• Chew yourself.
• Get up Sun.

Chinese names in English

A big problem in learning ancient Chinese is the lack of letters and some combinations of sounds. Therefore, it is much more difficult for the Chinese to pronounce the names of people that are unusual for them. But they have it much easier with this matter. The wide variety of phonetic tools that can be used to transcribe Chinese names allows them to be pronounced almost exactly like a native speaker.

Transcription:

• Hua - Hua.
• Lei - Lei.
• Xun - Sun.
• Xanling - Xanling.
• Demin - Demin.
• Ksiozhi - Ksiozhi.
• Maoning - Maoning.
• Zen - Zen.
• Xiobo - Ksiobo.
• Dzengshen - Dzengshen.

In fact, everything is quite simple. It is enough to know the English alphabet.

Russian female names

The Chinese writing system is somewhat limited in its variety of sounds. There is no alphabet in the Celestial Empire, it has been replaced by a syllabic system of composing words. This causes problems for the Chinese, because they are not used to pronouncing some of the sounds that are present in other languages. Therefore, some foreign names are pronounced and written by the Chinese in such a way that even the owner cannot always immediately recognize his name.

Russian female names:

• Alexandra - Ali shan de la.
• Alice - Ay sy.
• Anastasia - An on saty ta si I.
• Nastya - On sy chia.
• Valentine - Wa lun ti na.
• Veronica - Wei lo ni ka.
• Galina - Jia Li Na.
• Evgenia - E fu gen ni me.
• Elizabeth - Ye li zai wei ta.
• Christina - Ke li si ji na.

The first time you hear such a name, you just think that the Chinese just communicate with each other.

Do Chinese people have middle names?

The Chinese do not have a patronymic, but there is “Khao”. This is a nickname that a person takes for himself to highlight his personality. The tradition of taking hao has been going on since antiquity. So the monarchs tried to stand out at court. Hao often passed from father to son.

Chinese second name

After reaching a certain age, 20 years for men and 15-17 years for women, the Chinese acquire the nickname "Zi". It is used to address neighbors, close acquaintances and relatives. It can be called a family nickname that is not mentioned in the documents.

Unique Features

Almost all Chinese surnames consist of only one syllable. They originate from the time of the birth of the tradition of inheritance. The rulers gave rise to surnames related to power, and artisans took hieroglyphs from the name of their activity.
Women do not change their last names after marriage. However, they can modify it by adding the hieroglyph for husband.

Combination of first and last name

The sound of Chinese surnames and given names is very important. Carefully selected syllables should be combined into a harmonious sentence, over which parents think for a long time. Even marriage is not a reason to change your last name.

Names that define character

Chinese characters that define character have become popular. The Chinese believe that the fate of a person is determined by the name, so hieroglyphs have become popular:

• Ji - Lucky.
• Hu - Lioness.
• Xiong - Talent.
• Shu is justice.

You can list them until the evening, because any adjective in Chinese can become a name.

Names associated with beauty

The main feature of female names is that they should make the girl more beautiful and interesting. Therefore, for centuries, popular:

• Ganghui - Irresistible.
• Lilzhan - Beauty.
• Meiksiu - elegance.
• Mayron is a success.
• Lihu - August.

Gems and female names

Also, Chinese characters for valuable minerals and metals are popular, such as:

• Jin is gold.
• Kill - emerald.
• Minjo is a pearl.

Usually they are an addition to create names. A good example is the name "Lilin", which translates as beautiful jade.

Name change

Upon reaching a certain age, in China it is customary to give different names - nicknames that are used when referring to loved ones. These include:

• Min. Main.
• Sao-min. Child's nickname for the baby.
• Sue-min. School nickname.
• Gong-min. Student.
• Hao. Possible nickname.

However, only the Ming was noted in official Chinese documents.