How To Name Your Chinese Characters:
1) LAST NAMES:
I’ve pasted the Top 100 common last names in alphabetical order, and bolded the ones that appear in CQL:
B: 白 Bai
C: 蔡 Cai ; 曹 Cao ; 常 Chang ; 曾 Ceng ; 陈 Chen ; 程 Cheng ; 崔 Cui ;
D: 戴 Dai ; 邓 Deng ; 丁 Ding ; 董 Dong ; 杜 Du ;
F: 范 Fan ; 方 Fang ; 冯 Feng ; 付 Fu ;
G: 高 Gao ; 葛 Ge ; 龚 Gong ; 顾 Gu ; 郭 Guo ;
H: 韩 Han ; 何 He ; 贺 He 洪 Hong ; 侯 Hou ; 黄 Hua ; 胡 Hu ;
J: 贾 Jia ; 蒋 Jiang ; 姜 Jiang ; 江 Jiang ; 金 Jin ;
K: 康 Kang ;
L: 赖 Lai ; 李 Li ; 黎 Li ; 廖 Liao ; 梁 Liang ; 林 Lin ; 刘 Liu ; 陆 Lu ; 卢 Lu ; 路 Lu ; 吕 Lü ; 罗 Luo ;
M: 马 Ma ; 麦 Mai ; 毛 Mao ; 孟 Meng ;
N: 倪 Ni ; 牛 Niu ;
P: 潘 Pan ; 彭 Peng ;
Q: 钱 Qian ; 秦 Qin ; 邱 Qiu ;
R:任 Ren ;
S: 邵 Shao ; 沈 Sheng ; 史 Shi ; 石 Shi ; 施 Shi ; 宋 Song ; 苏 Su ; 孙 Sun ;
T: 陶 Tao ; 谭 Tan ; 唐 Tang ; 田 Tian ;
W: 万 Wan ; 王 Wang ; 汪 Wang ; 魏 Wei ; 吴 Wu ;
X: 邢 Xing ; 夏 Xia ; 蕭 Xiao ; 谢 Xie ; 徐 Xu ; 许 Xu ; 薛 Xue ;
Y: 阎 Yan ; 严 Yan ; 杨 Yang ; 姚 Yao ; 叶 Ye ; 余 Yu ; 于 Yu ; 袁 Yuan ;
Z: 张 Zhang ; 赵 Zhao ; 郑 Zheng ; 钟 Zhong ; 周 Zhou ; 朱 Zhu ; 庄 Zhuang ; 邹 Zou ;
Above are all single character last names, but there are some double character Chinese last names, seen below (list not exhaustive):
独孤 Du’Gu ;
公孙 Gong’Sun ;
南宫 Nan’Gong
欧阳 Ou’Yang ;
司马 Si’Ma ; 上官 Shang’Guan ;
宇文 Yu’Wen ;
长孙 Zhang’Sun ; 诸葛 Zhu’GE ;
2) GIVEN NAMES/COURTESY NAMES
《Elements》:
Light*: 光 (guāng) - light, 亮 liàng - bright / shine, 明 (míng) - bright, 曦 (xī) - early dawn, 昀 (yún) - daylight, 昭 (zhāo) - light, clear,照 (zhào) - to shine upon,
Fire: 焰 (yàn) - flames, 烟 (yān) - smoke,炎 (yán) - heat/burn, 烨 (yè) - dazzling light,
Water: also see “weather” OR “bodies of water” under nature; note the words below while are related to water have meanings that mean some kind of virtue: 清 (qīng) - clarity / purity, 澄 (chéng) - clarity/quiet, 澈 (chè) - clear/penetrating, 涟 (lián) - ripple, 漪 (yī) - ripple, 泓 (hóng) - vast water, 湛 (zhàn) - clear/crystal, 露 (lù) - dew, 泠 (líng) - cool, cold, 涛 (tāo) - big wave,泽 (zé),浩 hào - grand/vast (water),涵 (han) - deep submergence / tolerance / educated
Weather: 雨 (yǔ) - rain, 霖 (lín) - downpouring rain, 冰 (bīng) - ice, 雪 (xuě) - snow, 霜 (shuāng) - frost
Wind: 风 (fēng) - wind
* some “Light” words overlap in meaning with words that mean “sun/day”
《Nature》:
Season: 春 (chūn) - spring, 夏 (xià) - summer, 秋 (qíu) - aumtum, 冬 (dōng) - winter
Time of Day: 朝 (zhāo) - early morning / toward, 晨 (chén) - morning / dawn, 晓 (xiǎo) - morning, 旭 (xù) - dawn/rising sun,昼 (zhòu) - day,皖 (wǎn) - late evening,夜 (yè) - night
Star/Sky/Space: 云 (yún) - cloud,天 (tiān) - sky/ heaven,霞 (xiá) - afterglow of a rising or setting sun,月 (yuè) - moon,日 (ri) - day / sun,阳 (yáng) - sun,宇 (yǔ) - space,星 (xīng) - star
Birds: 燕 (yàn) - sparrow, 雁 (yàn) - loon, 莺 (yīng) - oriole, 鸢 (yuān) - kite bird (family Accipitridae),羽 (yǔ) - feather
Creatures: 龙 (lóng) - dragon/imperial
Plants/Flowers:* 兰 (lán) - orchids, 竹 (zhú) - bamboo, 筠 (yún) - tough exterior of bamboos, 萱 (xuān) - day-lily, 松 (sōng) - pine, 叶 (yè) - leaf, 枫 (fēng) - maple, 柏 bó/bǎi - cedar/cypress, 梅 (méi) - plum, 丹 (dān) - peony
Mountains: 山 (shān), 峰 (fēng) - summit, 峥 (zhēng),
Bodies of water: 江 (jiāng) - large river/straits, 河 (hé) - river, 湖 (hú) - lake, 海 (hǎi) - sea, 溪 (xī) - stream, 池 (chí) - pond, 潭 (tán) - larger pond, 洋 (yáng) - ocean
* I didn’t include a lot of flower names because it’s very easy to name a character with flowers that heavily implies she’s a prostitute.
《Virtues》:
Astuteness: 睿 ruì - astute / foresight, 智 (zhi), 慧 (hui), 哲 (zhé) - wise/philosophy,
Educated: 博 (bó) - extensively educated, 墨 (mo) - ink, 诗 (shi) - poetry / literature, 文 (wén) - language / gentle / literary, 学 (xue) - study, 彦 (yàn) - accomplished / knowledgeable, 知 (zhi) - to know, 斌 (bīn) - refined, 赋 (fù) - to be endowed with knowledge
Loyalty: 忠 (zhōng) - loyal, 真 (zhēn) - true
Bravery: 勇 (yǒng) - brave, 杰 (jié) - outstanding, hero
Determination/Perseverance: 毅 (yì) - resolute / brave, 恒 (héng) - everlasting, 衡 (héng) - across, to judge/evaluate,成 (chéng) - to succeed, 志 (zhì) - aspiration / the will
Goodness/Kindness: 嘉 (jiā) - excellent / auspicious,磊 (lěi) - rock / open & honest, 正 (zhèng) - straight / upright / principle,
Elegance: 雅 (yǎ) - elegant, 庄 (zhuāng) - respectful/formal/solemn, 彬 (bīn) - refined / polite,
Handsome: 俊 jùn - handsome/talented
Peace: 宁 (níng) - quietness/to pacify, 安 (ān) - peace, safety
Grandness/Excellence:宏 (hóng) - grand,豪 (háo) - grand, heroic,昊 (hào) - limitless / the vast sky,华 (huá) - magnificent, 赫 (hè) - red/famous/great, 隆 (lóng) - magnificent, 伟 (wěi) - greatness / large,轩 (xuān) - pavilion with a view/high,卓 (zhuó) - outstanding
Female Descriptor/Virtues/Beauty: 婉 (wǎn),惠 (huì), 妮 (nī), 娇 (jiāo), 娥 (é), 婵 (chán) (I didn’t include specific translations for these because they’re all adjectives for women meaning beauty or virtue)
《Descriptors》:
Adverbs: 如 (rú) - as,若 (ruò) - as, alike,宛 (wǎn) - like / as though,
Verbs: 飞 (fēi) - to fly, 顾 (gù) - to think/consider, 怀 (huái) - to miss, to possess, 落(luò) - to fall, to leave behind,梦 (mèng) - to dream, 思 (sī) - to consider / to miss (someone),忆 (yì) - memory, 希 (xī) - yearn / admire
Colours: 红 (hóng) - red, 赤 (chì) - crimson, 黄 (huàng) - yellow, 碧 (bì) - green,青(qīng) - azure,蓝 (lán) - blue, 紫 (zǐ) - violet ,玄 (xuán) - black, 白 (baí) - white
Number:一 (yī), 二 (er) - two, 三 (san) - three, 四 (si) - four, 五 (wu) - five, 六 (liu) - six, 七(qi) - seven, 八 (ba) - eight, 九 (jiu) - nine, 十 (shi) - ten
Direction: 东 (dōng) - east, 西 (xi) - west, 南 (nan) - south, 北 (bei) - north,
Other: 子 (zǐ) - child, 然 (rán) - correct / thusly
《Jade》: *there are SO MANY words that generally mean some kind of jade, bc when ppl put jade in their children’s name they don’t literally mean the rock, it’s used to symbolize purity, goodness, kindness, beauty, virtue etc*
琛 (chen), 瑶 (yao), 玥 (yue), 琪 (qi), 琳 (lin)
《Spirituality》
凡 (fan) - mortality
色 (se) - colour, beauty. In buddhism, “se” symbolizes everything secular
了 (liao) - finished, done, letting go
尘 (chen) - dust, I’m not… versed in buddhism enough to explain “chen”, it’s similar to “se”
悟 (wu) - knowing? Cognition? To understand a higher meaning
无 (wu) - nothing, the void, also part of like “letting go”
戒 (jie) - to “quit”, but not in a bad way. In buddhism, monks are supposed to “quit” their earthly desires.
极 (ji) - greatness, also related to the state of nirvana (? I think?)
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