Create an authentic Chinese name with cultural meaning in 4 simple steps, matched from your English name. No Chinese knowledge needed — takes less than 2 minutes.
1
Tell Us About You
2
Choose Your Surname
3
Choose Your Given Name
4
Get Your Chinese Name
Step 1 of 4Tell Us About You
?+?=—
Surname:
Given Name:
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Tip: Use any single Chinese character as your surname. Ideally, get a recommendation from a Chinese-speaking friend. If you're unsure, head to Browse All to pick a suitable one — randomly choosing a character might lead to awkward or unintended meanings!
Or pick from common surnames below:
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Tip: This method matches a Chinese surname to how your English last name sounds. It's a common approach (e.g., Lee → 李 Lǐ), but not every name has a perfect phonetic match, so you may encounter limited results for some surnames.
Based on your last name ""
👇 Pick one surname from the options below:
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Tip: Choose a surname based on your Chinese zodiac animal (determined by your birth year). This is a culturally meaningful and reliable approach — we've pre-selected surnames that pair well with your zodiac sign. Simply pick the one you like! Curious what your sign means? See your Chinese zodiac explained →
Your Zodiac:
👇 Pick one surname from the options below:
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Tip: Browse the most common Chinese surnames. If you haven't found one you like from the methods above, pick from here — these are all well-established, authentic surnames that you can't go wrong with.
0 surnames available
👇 Pick one surname from the options below:
👇 Pick one given name from the options below:
Based on your English name, here's a common translation:
But we think your custom-picked name below is even better!
Look up the meaning and cultural story behind every character in your new name
How This Chinese Name Generator Works
This tool is a Chinese name generator — not a transliterator. Instead of mechanically
converting the sound of your English name, it walks you through how Chinese names are actually built, so the
result reads like a real Chinese name — not a phonetic approximation. For a quick phonetic version, see
My Name in Chinese.
STEP 1
Tell us about you
Your English name, gender and birth year set the context — including your Chinese zodiac sign.
STEP 2
Choose your surname
Pick a surname by phonetic match to your English last name, by zodiac sign, direct input, or browse the full database of Chinese last names.
STEP 3
Choose your given name
Filter real given names by meaning category — or browse girl names and boy names in the full directory.
STEP 4
Get your Chinese name
See the full name with pinyin, meaning and the cultural story behind each character — and what your name means with the meaning lookup.
Every surname and given name in the database is hand-curated with its pinyin, meaning and cultural
origin — no randomly generated combinations. Want a quick phonetic version of your name instead?
Use the My Name in Chinese translator.
Chinese Name Generator, Translator, or Converter — Which One Do You Need?
People search for all three words, and they usually want one of three different things. Here's how they differ:
✨ Name Generator (this page)
🔤 Name Translator / Converter
📖 Name Meaning Lookup
What you get
A real Chinese name built from surname + meaningful given name
What you get
The sound of your English name rewritten in Chinese characters
What you get
The meaning of characters in a Chinese name you already have
Example
Michael → 明凯 ("bright & triumphant")
Example
Michael → 迈克尔 (Mài kè ěr)
Example
明凯 → 明 "bright" + 凯 "triumphant"
Best for
A name Chinese people find natural — daily life, social media, business
Best for
Official documents, news references, tattoos of your English name
Best for
Understanding what a Chinese name says about the person
Three Ways to Turn an English Name into a Chinese Name
An English-to-Chinese name conversion isn't one single method — this generator supports all three, and step 2 of the wizard is where you choose.
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By Sound (Phonetic Match)
Match a Chinese surname to how your English last name sounds — the classic approach, like Lee → 李 (Lǐ) or Smith → 史 (Shǐ).
Wizard: Step 2 → Phonetic Match
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By Birth Year (Zodiac Match)
Your birth year maps to a Chinese zodiac animal, and some surnames pair naturally with it. See your zodiac sign explained.
Wizard: Step 2 → Zodiac Match
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By Meaning (Cultural Match)
Choose characters for what they mean — wisdom, strength, beauty — so your name reads like it was given by Chinese parents. This is what makes a generated name feel real.
Wizard: Step 3 → meaning categories
Chinese Name Generator for Girls and Boys
The wizard adapts to gender: step 1 asks, and every given name suggestion from then on fits. Prefer to browse first? The full name directories are linked below each card.
👧 For Girls
Girl names often draw from poetry, jade, moonlight and virtue characters like 诗 (Shī, poetry), 涵 (Hán, cultivated), 薇 (Wēi, rose fern), 欣 (Xīn, joyful) and 雨 (Yǔ, rain).
A Chinese name in characters is always surname first, given name second — the opposite of Western order. Total length is 2–4 characters, and each character has its own pronunciation (written in pinyin) and meaning.
In four steps: enter your English name, gender and birth year; pick a surname by phonetic match, zodiac sign or browsing; choose a given name by meaning category; get the full name with pinyin and cultural story. It is rule-based on a hand-curated database — see the detailed walkthrough above, not a black box.
If you want the sound of your English name rewritten in Chinese characters, use the My Name in Chinese translator. This generator instead builds a meaning-based name the way Chinese parents do. Most people end up wanting both.
You can browse every surname and given name in the database and pick whatever catches your eye — the Browse tab and the given-name grid show everything ranked by real picks. But purely random combinations often sound odd to Chinese speakers, which is why we guide you by meaning instead.
For a phonetic version, the translator renders your English name syllable by syllable: Michael becomes 迈克尔. For a meaningful version, this generator picks characters for what they say: Michael could become 明凯, bright and triumphant. Both are free.
Completely free, no sign-up. Browse all surnames and given names, generate the full name with its meaning and cultural story — nothing is locked.