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HanCam · Free pinyin tool
Chinese name pronunciation: names to pinyin
Paste a Chinese name. You get its pinyin with tone marks, read the way family names are read, a spelling in passport style and a listen button.
Pinyin of the name
Paste or type a Chinese name. Its pinyin appears here.
- Pinyin
- Passport style
Your browser has no Chinese voice of its own, so the listen buttons stay silent here. iPhone, iPad and Mac have one built in. On other devices a Chinese voice can be added in the speech settings of the system.
The first character is read as a family name, or the first two in names such as 欧阳 and 司马. Given names with an unusual reading can come out wrong. When it matters, ask the person.
This tool runs in your browser. Nothing you type or paste is sent to a server.
Family name first
A Chinese name starts with the family name; the given name follows. 曾国藩 is Zēng Guófān: family name 曾 Zēng, given name 国藩 Guófān. Most family names have one character and most given names one or two, so a full name usually has two or three characters.
In pinyin the family name and the given name are two words, each with a capital letter, and the syllables of each are written together: Máo Zédōng, not Mao Ze Dong. That is the rule of the national standard for names in pinyin in mainland China (GB/T 28039-2011).
Characters that are read differently as a family name
Some characters have a reading of their own when they are a family name. A general pinyin converter gets these wrong. This tool reads the first character of a name as a family name.
| Character | As a family name | Usual reading |
|---|---|---|
| 曾 | Zēng | céng |
| 单 | Shàn | dān |
| 仇 | Qiú | chóu |
| 解 | Xiè | jiě |
| 区 | Ōu | qū |
| 查 | Zhā | chá |
| 朴 | Piáo | pǔ |
| 任 | Rén | rèn |
| 华 | Huà | huá |
Family names with two characters
A small number of family names have two characters, among them 欧阳 Ōuyáng, 司马 Sīmǎ, 诸葛 Zhūgě, 上官 Shàngguān and 夏侯 Xiàhóu. 欧阳修 is Ōuyáng Xiū and 司马迁 is Sīmǎ Qiān. The tool knows 60 of these names and splits them off by itself. If it guesses wrong, set the length of the family name yourself.
单于 shows why this matters. As a family name of two characters it is Chányú, while 单 alone is Shàn as a family name and dān as an ordinary word.
How Chinese names are written in passports
Chinese passports print the name in capital letters without tone marks, the family name first: ZENG GUOFAN. The letter ü is written YU, so the family name 吕 Lǚ becomes LYU. Outside China many people put the given name first, as in Guofan Zeng. The tool can show either order.
This tool gives the Mandarin reading in Hanyu Pinyin. Names from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and those of many overseas Chinese families, are often spelled differently in official documents, from Cantonese or another Chinese language or in an older system. The family name 陈 is Chén in pinyin, Chan in Hong Kong and often Tan in Singapore. For such a name, the spelling in the person's own documents is the right one.
Names on cards, doors and lists
This tool needs a name that you can paste. For a name on a business card, a door sign, a class list or a book cover, HanCam reads the characters with the camera of your iPhone or iPad and shows them with pinyin and tone marks, and the meaning. The app reads a name as ordinary text, so check family names such as 曾 or 解 with the tool on this page.
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Questions and answers
How do I find the pinyin of a Chinese name?
Paste the name in Chinese characters into the box at the top of this page. The pinyin with tone marks appears at once, with the family name read as a family name. The listen button says the name with your device's Chinese voice.
Which part of a Chinese name is the family name?
The first part. In 王小明 Wáng Xiǎomíng, 王 Wáng is the family name and 小明 Xiǎomíng is the given name. A few family names have two characters, such as 欧阳 Ōuyáng.
How is a Chinese name written in a passport?
In capital letters without tone marks, the family name first and the given name as one word: 王小明 is WANG XIAOMING. The letter ü is written YU, so 吕 is LYU.
Why is a character read differently in a name?
Many characters have more than one reading, and family names often keep an older one. 曾 is céng in everyday words and Zēng as a family name. 解 is jiě as a word and Xiè as a family name. This tool applies the family-name reading to the first character of the name.
Can I rely on the pinyin for a real person's name?
For the family name, nearly always. For the given name it is right in most cases, but some characters have two common readings (乐 can be Lè or Yuè) and only the person knows which one is meant. Names from Hong Kong, Taiwan or overseas families may also have an official spelling that is not pinyin. When it matters, ask.
Why does the listen button sound different from the pinyin?
The button uses your device's own Chinese voice, which decides by itself how to read each character and does not always know the readings of family names. The written pinyin is the result of this tool; the voice is a help for the tones. If your browser has no Chinese voice, the button stays silent and the page says so.