Jan Finster Posted January 28, 2022 at 08:13 AM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 08:13 AM I am still getting frustrated with Chinese names. Probably I will have to brute force them into my brain with Anki or Tofu learn... ? Do you guys have lists of characters used in proper names? 1 Quote
phills Posted January 28, 2022 at 08:32 AM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 08:32 AM I don't know about the given names, but here's a list of 100 common last names. One of these characters + 1 or 2 characters after that is probably a name. After that is mostly stereotypes. As far as I can tell, male names often have various strength/patriotic/health connotation words (ala the author 王强), while female names have flowers, elegance or beauty type words (ala the tennis player 李娜), and may be doubled (like the actress 范冰冰). https://mandarinhouse.com/100-common-chinese-family-names 1. 李 Lǐ 2. 王 Wáng 3. 张 Zhāng 4. 刘 Liú 5. 陈 Chén 6. 杨 Yáng 7. 赵 Zhào 8. 黄 Huáng 9. 周 Zhōu 10. 吴 Wú 11. 徐 Xú 12. 孙 Sūn 13. 胡 Hú 14. 朱 Zhū 15. 高 Gāo 16. 林 Lín 17. 何 Hé 18. 郭 Guō 19. 马 Mǎ 20. 罗 Luó 21. 梁 Liáng 22. 宋 Sòng 23. 郑 Zhèng 24. 谢 Xiè 25. 韩 Hán 26. 唐 Táng 27. 冯 Féng 28. 于 Yú 29. 董 Dǒng 30. 萧 Xiāo 31. 程 Chéng 32. 曹 Cáo 33. 袁 Yuán 34. 邓 Dèng 35. 许 Xǔ 36. 傅 Fù 37. 沈 Shěn 38. 曾 Zēng 39. 彭 Péng 40. 吕 Lǚ 41. 苏 Sū 42. 卢 Lú 43. 蒋 Jiǎng 44. 蔡 Cài 45. 贾 Jiǎ 46. 丁 Dīng 47. 魏 Wèi 48. 薛 Xuē 49. 叶 Yè 50. 阎 Yán 51. 余 Yú 52. 潘 Pān 53. 杜 Dù 54. 戴 Dài 55. 夏 Xià 56. 钟 Zhōng 57. 汪 Wāng 58. 田 Tián 59. 任 Rén 60. 姜 Jiāng 61. 范 Fàn 62. 方 Fāng 63. 石 Shí 64. 姚 Yáo 65. 谭 Tán 66. 盛 Shèng 67. 邹 Zōu 68. 熊 Xióng 69. 金 Jīn 70. 陆 Lù 71. 郝 Hǎo 72. 孔 Kǒng 73. 白 Bái 74. 崔 Cuī 75. 康 Kāng 76. 毛 Máo 77. 邱 Qiū 78. 秦 Qín 79. 江 Jiāng 80. 史 Shǐ 81. 顾 Gù 82. 侯 Hóu 83. 邵 Shào 84. 孟 Mèng 85. 龙 Lóng 86. 万 Wàn 87. 段 Duàn 88. 章 Zhāng 89. 钱 Qián 90. 汤 Tāng 91. 尹 Yǐn 92. 黎 Lí 93. 易 Yì 94. 常 Cháng 95. 武 Wǔ 96. 乔 Qiáo 97. 贺 Hè 98. 赖 Lài 99. 龚 Gōng 100. 文 Wén 2 Quote
phills Posted January 28, 2022 at 08:43 AM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 08:43 AM Actually wikipedia has a list of most common given names too. Just for curiosity I stripped out the duplicates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_given_name 1 麗 Lì Pretty, Graceful 2 偉 Wěi Big, Great 3 芳 Fāng Fragrance, Virtue 4 秀英 Xiùyīng Outstanding Beauty, Elegant & Brave 5 娜 Nà Elegant 6 敏 Mǐn Quick, Clever 7 静 Jìng Peaceful, Tranquil 8 强 Qiáng Strong, Better 9 磊 Lěi Mound of Rocks, Great 10 军 Jūn Army 11 洋 Yáng Ocean 12 勇 Yǒng Brave 13 艳 Yàn Gorgeous 14 杰 Jié Outstanding, Heroic 15 娟 Juān Beautiful, Bewitching 16 涛 Tāo Large Wave 17 明 Míng Bright 18 超 Chāo Overleap, Surpass 19 秀兰 Xiùlán Beautiful Orchid, Elegant & Graceful 20 霞 Xiá Rosy Clouds, Mist 21 平 Píng Peaceful, Tranquil 22 刚 Gāng Hard, Strong 23 桂英 Guìyīng Laurel & Beautiful, Brave 1 1 Quote
Lu Posted January 28, 2022 at 09:40 AM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 09:40 AM On 1/28/2022 at 9:13 AM, Jan Finster said: I am still getting frustrated with Chinese names. What kind of frustration? Not recognising them when you see them in a text, or having trouble remembering the names of people you meet, or something else? For the first problem, that list of surnames is helpful. Sentence is weird but one of these characters is in it: see if perhaps part of the sentence is a name and if that resolves the weirdness. For the second, what helped me is, yeah, learn the name basically as a vocab item. Ask the person which characters (that can be helpful), come up with a mnemonic, repeat (to yourself or out loud to someone) a few times within the hour, repeat again that evening, the next day, etc. Put it in your Anki queue, even. 2 Quote
Jan Finster Posted January 28, 2022 at 10:15 AM Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 10:15 AM On 1/28/2022 at 10:40 AM, Lu said: What kind of frustration? Not recognising them when you see them in a text This! (i.e. the pinyin, tone) I guess the list of characters used in names is much longer than 100, but I am grateful for phills list. 1 Quote
Jim Posted January 28, 2022 at 10:24 AM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 10:24 AM There is a list of characters permitted in names, 通用规范字表, a fact I discovered when we wanted to use a classical variant in our son's but weren't allowed as it wasn't listed. The clerk had a small printed booklet they consulted. Obviously there'll be names that predate its introduction or are given in other jurisdictions but reference for contemporary PRC at least. Quote
Jan Finster Posted January 28, 2022 at 10:40 AM Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 10:40 AM On 1/28/2022 at 11:24 AM, Jim said: 通用规范字表 Thanks, but this list is so extensive that it borders on useless for learners. Quote
phills Posted January 28, 2022 at 11:41 AM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 11:41 AM It just occured to me that 百姓, aka the people, literally means the 100 last names. So that must mean that list should cover majority of the people. I wonder if it does?! Quote
mungouk Posted January 28, 2022 at 12:52 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 12:52 PM On 1/28/2022 at 4:13 PM, Jan Finster said: I am still getting frustrated with Chinese names. What's your reason for studying them? I'm working towards HSK 5 (and struggling!) and there are LOADS of them dropped into the texts and dialogues. The most common names as listed in @phills first post here are pretty easy because you see them so often. As for recognising entire names (not just family names), I guess you just have to assume that 等等 / 等等等 is probably a name if the first character is a common family name, since most names are 2 or 3 hanzi. The other issue is transliterated names of non-Chinese people. Usually there's that dot to give it away for a full name. 1 Quote
Jan Finster Posted January 28, 2022 at 01:01 PM Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 01:01 PM On 1/28/2022 at 1:52 PM, mungouk said: What's your reason for studying them? Well, first of all, I want to be able to learn them eventually and not just skip them ( 等等 / 等等等). Secondly, if I (ever) go back to China to do seminars (in English with translation), students in the seminar have name tags on them and it would be "cool", if I could address them by their proper name. Also, at the end of the seminar I am handing out certificates and it would be nice if I could read out the names correctly. (I know I could just get the list of participants before and memorise them, but ...(see first point)). Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted January 28, 2022 at 02:16 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 02:16 PM On 1/28/2022 at 10:24 AM, Jim said: There is a list of characters permitted in names, 通用规范字表 That's just the entire list of mainland standard characters though. It'll have lots of characters that would never (or very unlikely) be used in names, like 个 or 耻 or 臀. 1 Quote
MoonIvy Posted January 28, 2022 at 03:04 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 03:04 PM This is something you'll just need to get use to, the more characters you know, the easier it will become. There are some characters that are only really used as a surname (i.e. 吴), but there are some that's commonly used in words (i.e. 顾 王 张). As for the other parts of a name, they are usually characters that are used in words/literature not just as a name. When Chinese people name their children, they like to give them a meaningful name, so often they're characters that you'll see elsewhere. Of course, sometimes they're uncommon characters. I wouldn't learn names, that sounds super boring. Just read and read and read, you'll eventually get use to all the common surnames. You can even get into celebrity gossip! That's a great way to learn loads of surnames. Once you reach 4-5k characters, you should have no problem. Are you struggling to tell that XXX is a name when reading? Like you read a sentence, and didn't know that 3 of those characters is a name? Quote
Jan Finster Posted January 28, 2022 at 03:47 PM Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 03:47 PM On 1/28/2022 at 4:04 PM, MoonIvy said: Are you struggling to tell that XXX is a name when reading? Like you read a sentence, and didn't know that 3 of those characters is a name? Yes, sometimes. On 1/28/2022 at 4:04 PM, MoonIvy said: ....5k characters, you should have no problem. Well that is just around the corner ... ? (I wonder how many foreigner know 5k characters (?)) Quote
Lu Posted January 28, 2022 at 03:53 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 03:53 PM On 1/28/2022 at 2:01 PM, Jan Finster said: Well, first of all, I want to be able to learn them eventually and not just skip them ( 等等 / 等等等). OK I think I get it. Some characters in names are commonly-used enough that you already know them (强，英，美), but there are also some that are almost exclusively used in names (婷，娜) and you want to know all those characters too, so that you can immediately read them when you encounter someone with these characters on their name tag, because Chinese people would be able to do that too. And then there are names of people with creative and/or extremely literate parents and grandparents and ideally you want to know those characters too, even if many Chinese people would also struggle with them. I don't know of any list that would give you what you need. Reading the political news would give you a good vocabulary of male names from the 1950s onwards or so (a shortcut would be to study a list of CPPCC members); reading celebrity gossip would give you male and female names from the 1990s onwards or so. Apart from that, meeting lots of Chinese people will help, naturally. And if you meet a bunch of Chinese people at once, and there is a list of their names, and you are in a position to ask for that list, ask for it. Preferably before the event, but afterwards is still useful. That will give you the kind of names you actually encounter (because like elsewhere, Chinese names vary by age, background and location). 1 Quote
MoonIvy Posted January 28, 2022 at 04:12 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 04:12 PM On 1/28/2022 at 3:47 PM, Jan Finster said: Yes, sometimes. Yeah this one is hard. I don't have any advise for this unforunately. It does get easier the more you read. Sometimes it's just a feeling, and you can sometimes tell that it's a name due to the way the sentence is written E.g. 小狗跳到飞雨的膝盖 you can tell that 飞雨 is the name here especially with the 的膝盖 part. It will come with experience and exposure. The app Readibu does have a name recognition feature if you pay for the premium, so maybe a tool might be helpful for now? On 1/28/2022 at 3:47 PM, Jan Finster said: I wonder how many foreigner know 5k characters I would say a good amount, especially those that are into Chinese literature. Exposure yourself to lots of names if you want to learn fast. Lu's suggestion is a good one, read political news, celebrity gossips etc 1 Quote
abcdefg Posted January 28, 2022 at 04:30 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 04:30 PM On 1/28/2022 at 3:40 AM, Lu said: For the second, what helped me is, yeah, learn the name basically as a vocab item. Ask the person which characters (that can be helpful), come up with a mnemonic, repeat (to yourself or out loud to someone) a few times within the hour, repeat again that evening, the next day, etc. Put it in your Anki queue, even. And next time you meet that person, "finger write" it on your palm and ask them to confirm you've got it straight. Doing that is one of "those China things." If nothing else, it will help set you apart from the tourists. Quote
MoonIvy Posted January 28, 2022 at 04:42 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 04:42 PM Oh I just thought of something you can do. If you're into Chinese anime, tv shows or movies, whenever you watch one of these, you'll get exposed to the character names, but then also look up the names of the actors/actress, the voice actors, directors, producers etc Don't need to memorise them of course, but it's just a way to expose yourself to more names and characters too. 2 1 Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted January 28, 2022 at 06:21 PM Report Posted January 28, 2022 at 06:21 PM Go to https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/最常見名字列表 Follow the link to 《中国公民身份信息系统库而做的同名同姓(测试版)》 (archived version; live version is a dead link), then you get a list of the 500 most common PRC 姓名s. Parse them out into [ first char, ...other chars ], then take the set of characters from each, and you get the following lists of 14 姓s and 99 characters used in 名s: 姓s (better to use phills's list, as it's more comprehensive): 张王李刘陈杨赵高周黄吴马孙徐 Characters used in 名s: 伟芳娜敏静秀英丽强磊洋艳勇军杰娟涛超明霞兰刚平燕辉玲桂丹萍鹏华红玉飞鑫波斌莉宇浩凯珍健俊帆雪帅慧旭宁婷梅龙林凤晶欢颖佳倩阳建亮成琴畅云洁峰国柳淑春海晨冬荣瑞莹志兵雷东琳欣博彬香坤想芝岩杨文楠利瑜花璐 3 1 Quote
Lu Posted January 31, 2022 at 09:12 AM Report Posted January 31, 2022 at 09:12 AM I was thinking 'the 500 most common names', how useful is that going to be, the vast majority of people will have a different name. But that list of 99 名字, that is amazing. Yes, there they all are! I think I've encountered absolutely all of these characters in the wild, either in the names of people I actually knew or in names in the news or in offices or such. 1 Quote
phills Posted January 31, 2022 at 01:08 PM Report Posted January 31, 2022 at 01:08 PM That's a great list. Can any native speakers divide those 99 first names into typically male / female / both for us? I know Chinese people will tell you that a name "sounds" like a male/female so they have mental classifications of name characters. I can guess a few based on heuristic of strength/health=male v. flower/beauty=female, but I'd rather get a native speaker's judgment. Also, I have no idea which ones would be classified as "both"? I can only think of maybe 平/安? Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.