Find your Chinese name
Three names a Chinese person would hear as real, each character explained. Pick one, then see it written.
Already have a Chinese name?
Choose how it is written
Pick a collection and we write in it; the first piece is written now, free. The pictures below are samples of 诸葛亮 Zhuge Liang. Yours carry your own characters.
Write in this collection
The first piece is written now in your own characters, free. Unlock the rest when you like it.
Chinese New Year 2027 is 6 February: write a couplet for this name.
Simplified is standard in mainland China; traditional in Hong Kong, Taiwan and most tattoo studios. The seals use seal script, which predates the split.
What you get, and what it costs
Three candidates, free. Each is a complete Chinese name: a one-character family name chosen from the sound of yours, then a given name of one or two characters, with the pinyin and the meaning of every character and a line on why the name fits you. If none of the three is right, ask for three different ones; if you already have a Chinese name, type it in the box below the finder and skip straight to the writing.
Choosing a name costs nothing and needs no account. The first piece of calligraphy is written for you free so you can see the hand. After that, everything is a one-time purchase: a certificate of meaning with a phone wallpaper for $4.90, the calligraphy pack (four scripts, transparent PNG and vector SVG, a poster, practice sheets) for $12.90, four seals in seal script for $7.90, and the tattoo pack with a real-size stencil for $24.90. The $4.90 is credited if you later take the calligraphy pack.
One of three names the finder gave for Emma Watson. 安 (ān, peace, settled) echoes the first sound of Emma and is a family name in the Hundred Family Surnames; 以 (yǐ, by means of) and 宁 (níng, calm, tranquil) make a given name that reads as a wish: to be at peace by way of calm. A Chinese colleague would hear it as a name, not as a foreigner's transcription. The newspaper version of the same name, 艾玛·沃森 (Àimǎ Wòsēn), is five characters that mean nothing and that nobody is called.
How the three names are chosen
A Chinese name is built in a fixed order: family name first, given name second, two or three characters in all. The finder follows that order and a short list of rules a Chinese parent would recognise. The family name must be a real one, taken from the first sound of your surname where the sound allows (Smith becomes 施 Shī or 史 Shǐ, Miller 米 Mǐ, Lee 李 Lǐ). The given name uses only common characters, never rare or Japanese-only ones, and never the clichés that mark a name as chosen by a textbook: 美 (beautiful), 丽 (pretty), 强 (strong), 国 (country). Characters whose sound is also an unlucky or comic word are thrown out, and so are pairs whose tones clash when said aloud.
Within those rules, "Kind of name" sets the direction. Balanced keeps a hint of your name's sound and a good meaning. Sound-first stays as close to how your name sounds as natural Chinese allows. Meaning-first translates the spirit of the name or of the wish you type, and lets the sound go. Classical picks characters with the feel of old poetry; Modern picks the light, fresh characters common among people born in China after 2000. The wish box is read literally: write "the sea" or "patience" or "my grandmother's name was Rose" and the given name will carry it.
Names are proposed by a language model working inside those rules, then scored by a second, independent model; a candidate that scores below the bar is never shown. No person reviews the names. If you want a reading of one name on its own, the free name checker tells you how a Chinese reader would hear it, and a Chinese friend remains the final word. The longer explanation of surnames, given names and generation names is in how Chinese names work.
Where people take the name next
A student heading to a semester in Beijing or Taipei needs a name a teacher can call in class; the calligraphy becomes the first page of the notebook. A couple expecting a child with Chinese grandparents wants a name the grandparents can say with pride; they choose with the family name the grandparents use, then have it written in clerical script for the nursery. Someone planning a tattoo wants a name that is theirs, not a transcription, and takes the tattoo pack so the artist works from a stencil rather than a screenshot. A teacher naming a class of thirty uses the finder thirty times, free, and prints the practice sheets. And every year around 6 February a few people come back to have a Spring Festival couplet written with their name woven into the lines.
Questions
Is the name a translation of my name?
No. Names do not translate. A Chinese name is a new name that stands in the same place as yours: a family name that echoes the first sound of your surname, and a given name with a meaning you choose to carry. Names with a meaning of their own (Rose, Grace, Leo) can bring that meaning across through the meaning-first style.
Why three characters and not five?
Because Chinese names have two or three characters: one for the family, one or two for the person. A five-character string like 艾玛·沃森 is a transliteration, which Chinese readers recognise at once as a foreign name written out by sound. The finder gives you the shape a Chinese person's own name has.
Which of the three should I choose?
The one you would be happy to hear a stranger say aloud. Read the pinyin, say it, and listen for a sound that is easy for you to own. Meaning matters, but a name is used far more often than it is explained; a name that is comfortable to say will be used.
Can I keep my own surname?
Yes. Open "More about the name" and type the family name you want, as characters if you already have one or as an English surname to be matched. If your family already uses a Chinese surname (a spouse's, a grandparent's), enter that and the three given names will be chosen to go with it.
Will Chinese speakers understand the name?
Yes; that is the point of the rules. Every character is in common use, the family name is a real one, and the given name reads as a name rather than as a word or a slogan. What a name cannot do is sound like your English name and read as native at the same time; the sound-first style gets as close as natural Chinese allows.
Simplified or traditional characters?
Choose by where the name will be used. Simplified characters are standard in mainland China and Singapore; traditional in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and most tattoo studios. The artwork is made in whichever you pick, and the seals use seal script, which predates the split and looks the same for both.
What happens to the name I type?
It is sent to the language model that proposes the candidates and kept with the order if you buy artwork; it is not sold or used to train anything. If you leave an email to keep the three names, you get three messages in total and an unsubscribe link in each. The privacy page has the full list.