Browse meaningful Chinese characters for names — pronunciations, core meanings, radicals, stroke counts, and structure.
beautiful, lovely, elegant; also used in the name of the Lijiang River (漓江).
A left-falling stroke in Chinese calligraphy; one of the basic strokes used in writing Chinese characters.
A basic Chinese stroke; the right-falling stroke (捺).
An archaic character meaning 'to move' or 'to flow'; also an ancient variant form of 移.
to govern; to regulate; to mow
to be; actually; then
A rare character used in Japanese as a tally mark meaning 'done'; also used as a variant form in some contexts.
Long time; duration; lasting
A variant form of 久, meaning long time; duration; extended period.
A unit of weight in ancient China; to entrust; phonetic component in some characters.
Interrogative particle (used in questions); diminutive suffix (informal); indicates smallness or affection.
righteousness, justice, morality; meaning, significance; adopted, artificial
An obscure or variant character; sometimes used as an alternative form or component in historical texts.
Possessive marker (of); grammatical particle; to go
crow; black; dark
suddenly; abruptly; for the first time
A classical Chinese particle expressing: 1) interrogation or doubt (equivalent to '吗'; 2) exclamation or emphasis; 3) prepositional use (equivalent to '于')
to lack; to be short of; tired
happy, joyful; pleasure, enjoyment; to laugh
A rare character meaning 'to stand in a crowd' or 'to gather'; an ancient form of 众 (crowd, multitude).
Onomatopoeia for the sound of a gunshot or ping; used in 'ping pong' (table tennis).
Onomatopoeia for a loud bang or thud; the sound of a gunshot or collision; used in table tennis terminology.
tall; lofty; to pretend
Tiger; variant form of 虎 (tiger), used in historical texts and calligraphy.
well-behaved, obedient, clever, perverse, contrary to reason
To ride; to mount; to take advantage of
To ride, to take advantage of, to multiply; also used to mean a type of vehicle or chariot in ancient
Second; second in order or rank; the second of the ten Heavenly Stems (天干)
A cursive form of 乙; second heavenly stem; used as a radical component
A basic stroke in Chinese calligraphy; a turning stroke or bend, often used as a radical.
To squint; what?; a surname
nine; many; numerous
to beg; to request; to ask for
also; too; as well
to practice; to study; to review
countryside; rural area; native place
A variant form of 丐 (beggar); also an archaic form used in place names.
An archaic Chinese character used historically, particularly in the context of the
A character used primarily in Korean place names; first character in the Korean place name 'Halgok'.
A rare or variant character; specific meaning unclear in modern usage.
book; document; to write
A character used in the Korean language to represent a sound; not standard in modern Chinese.
An archaic form of 始, meaning 'beginning', 'start', 'commence'.
To divine; to practice divination; refers to a method of spirit writing or planchette writing used in
A character used in Cantonese dialects, primarily as a place name element,
A character used in the Korean language for transliterating sounds; primarily appears in Korean place names and personal names.
A Korean place name character; used in Korean geographical names (Korean reading: 'geol').
A character used in Korean names and place names; a phonetic character in Korean Hanja.
A Korean surname; used in Korean names and place names.
A rare character used primarily in Korean Hanja for transliterating Korean syllables; no common meaning in modern Chinese.
to buy; to purchase; to bribe
chaos, disorder, confusion, rebellion; to confuse, to disturb, to mix up
A rare or variant character, primarily used in historical or specialized contexts.
breast; milk; to nurse
An archaic character meaning to grasp or hold; to bind with a cord.
To advance; to move forward; to enter. An archaic character.
A phonetic character used in the Korean place name '乶下' (Polha), a; also used in the transcription of Korean syllables.
A phonetic character used in Korean place names and personal names; no standard meaning in Chinese.
Female (of animals, especially birds and poultry); suffix indicating female gender in Cantonese dialects.
Ancient variant form of 乾 (qián), meaning 'dry'; 'heaven'; one of the Eight Trigrams in the I Ching representing the creative
Practical guidance for evaluating characters by radical, stroke balance, and cultural resonance.
Radicals group characters by their core semantic or structural elements. When you filter by radical, you surface characters that share meaning cues and writing patterns, making it easier to shortlist options with aligned symbolism.
Most parents stay within 6–16 strokes so signatures remain elegant and readable. Avoid extremes—overly complex forms slow writing, while ultra-simple characters may feel plain next to a more expressive partner character.
Chinese characters themselves are largely gender-neutral. Perceived gender comes from imagery and cultural associations, so review meanings and radicals together to find characters that match the tone you want.