Chinese Name Generator

A Chinese name is family name first, given name second, and almost always two or three syllables in total. Li Na is a Ms. Li whose given name is Na; Wang Haoran is a Mr. Wang called Haoran. Roughly a hundred surnames cover most of the population, and the big five (Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen) account for about a third of it. Two-syllable surnames like Ouyang, Zhuge and Murong survive mainly in history and martial-arts novels, which is why they sound so good on a fantasy hero.

Given names are chosen character by character for meaning and tone. Women's names lean on beauty, gentleness and nature (Na, Fang, Jing, Xue, Yu, Ting, Xin), men's on strength, virtue and ambition (Wei, Qiang, Jun, Hao, Zhi, Yuan), though many characters are shared. A name also dates its bearer: Jianguo, Guiying and Xiulan mark the 1950s to 70s, Wei, Jing and Lei the 80s, and two-character names such as Zixuan, Haoran, Yinuo and Yuxuan dominate children born after 2000.

Every entry shows standard pinyin plus the simplified characters, so you can see how a name looks and judge its tone. The list mixes everyday modern names, classical and wuxia-style names that read well in fantasy, and recognised historical and literary figures for reference.