Your Chinese name is not a translation

Names取名

Find your Chinese name

A fine name, chosen for what your chart needs.

How it works

Your birth detailsPick a profile, add someone new — or skip, and the names come from meaning and sound.
A family nameType yours, or let us pick a common one. Not sure? Browse the Book of Surnames.
Three names, explainedEach with its meaning, its sources and a full reading — kept in your account.

Elements & useful godsWhat your chart needs, and what this name brings.
Six grids & three talentsCounted stroke by stroke in Kangxi, with the working.
Character by characterMeaning, common words, sound and tone.
Classical sourcesLines from the Book of Songs and the Songs of Chu, read in plain English.
Fit scoreOut of 100 — every point traces to a check.

Every name is also screened for awkward sounds, in Chinese and in English.

Google can translate Chinese. It cannot tell you whether a Chinese person would ever use the word — on a child, or on a forearm.

小强Xiǎo Qiáng

Literally: “Little Qiang” — a boy’s nickname.
In China today: Since a 1993 Stephen Chow film, everyone’s joke word for a cockroach.
Real meaning: Not a tough little guy. An insect.

随心所欲Suí xīn suǒ yù

Literally: “Do as the heart desires” — a real idiom.
In China today: In the original line it is followed by a second clause, “without overstepping”. Cut loose, it reads wilful — what a teacher says about a difficult child.
Real meaning: You wanted free spirit. It says no self-control.

老板Lǎo bǎn

音SoundTones, and echoes of the surname.

形StrokesKangxi counts, with derivations.

行Five elementsThree schools, printed side by side.

数NumerologySix grids, three talents.

义MeaningDictionary senses and common words, cited.

忌Taboo checkInfamous names and awkward sounds, in Chinese and English.

Three names, each explained — for one person, a couple or a whole family.