Browse meaningful Chinese characters for names — pronunciations, core meanings, radicals, stroke counts, and structure.
leisure; idle; unoccupied
grand; vast; wide
Between, among; space, interval; room
To grieve; to pity; a Chinese surname
Tall and spacious (of a gate or door); high; lofty.
stuffy; stifling; suffocating
A sluice, floodgate, or lock; a brake (in mechanics); a switch (in electronics).
noisy, bustling, lively; to make noise; to stir up trouble
Boudoir — refers to a woman's private chamber or bedroom; inner quarters; traditionally the secluded living space for unmarried women in a household.
hear; news; to smell
A small door; side door; wicket gate
Min — refers to Fujian province; the Min River; Min Chinese dialects
Lǘ — village gate; alley; neighborhood
To open; to begin; joyful
powerful and influential person, family, or group; valve (in mechanics); used in terms like warlord or financial clique
Pavilion, tower, cabinet, chamber; originally a side door or small door; later extended to mean a multi-storied building, cabinet (government), and women's chambers.
to separate; to obstruct; to hinder
Threshold of a woman's chamber; women's quarters; wife
Lot — a slip of paper or object used for drawing lots; a method of random selection or decision-making.
to inspect; to review; to read
Lofty; high; spacious
City gate tower; watchtower; also used in Buddhist terminology for transliteration of Sanskrit sounds.
Threshold — the sill of a door; a point of entry or beginning; a limit or boundary in various contexts.
To castrate; to neuter; a eunuch
Gate of Heaven — refers to the gate of heaven in Chinese; also used in the name of the Changmen Gate in Suzhou.
To quarrel; to fight; to engage in conflict or dispute, especially among family members.
Wen — used exclusively in the place name Wenxiang (阌乡), an ancient
Gatekeeper; palace gate; door to a palace or important building
Yan — a Chinese surname; also refers to the gate of a lane, a village gate, or
To block; to obstruct; to stop
To explain; to elucidate; to clarify
railing; late; exhausted
Quiet; still; silent
Gate of a marketplace; market gate; entrance to a commercial area.
wide, broad, vast; wealthy, extravagant; to widen, to expand.
Que — a measure word for songs or poems; to end or complete; a section or stanza of a poem
To close; shut; whole
fill; full; crowded
Low, small door; mean, lowly; also refers to a small, humble dwelling.
Que — refers to a watchtower, tower, or gate tower; also means imperial palace, fault, deficiency, or to be absent; used in surnames.
To look down from a height; to roar; a surname.
Marketplace; area surrounding a market; commercial district.
Mound, hill; abundant, prosperous; used as a radical meaning 'mound' or 'earthen wall' in characters.
A radical used in Chinese characters, typically representing a mound, hill, or; when on the right (邑), it relates to settlements/places.
A geological term referring to a vein or stratum in the earth; a layer; also used in ancient texts to mean 'to divide' or 'to allot'.
Team; line; queue
An ancient term for a mound or grave; a rare character found primarily in classical texts.
Path between fields running north-south; footpath between fields; road
A rocky mound; unstable; perilous
An archaic character of uncertain meaning, possibly a variant form; rare in modern usage.
Slope; hill; to collapse
Ancient variant of 阴 (yīn), meaning 'shade', 'yin' (feminine principle in Chinese
An ancient form of 陽 (yáng), meaning 'sun', 'light', 'positive principle', 'male',
Steep, precipitous; sudden, abrupt; a unit of dry measure for grain (approx. 10 liters).
Narrow pass; strategic point; distress
To ascend, rise, go up; an ancient form of 升 (to rise, ascend).
Slope, hillside; also refers to Osaka (大阪) in Japan.
A wall; an embankment; a mound. An archaic character rarely used in modern Chinese.
pit; hole; ditch
A rare character with meanings related to a high mound, a cliff,; also used in some historical place names.
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.