How to Pronounce Chinese Names: A Practical Guide

沉浸 TeamAugust 12, 20265 min read

Learning how to pronounce Chinese names correctly comes down to three things: knowing which name comes first, decoding the handful of pinyin letters that don't sound like English (x, q, zh, c, and friends), and respecting the tones as best you can. You don't need to speak Mandarin to say a colleague's or friend's name well, and the effort registers immediately: for many Chinese speakers abroad, hearing their name said correctly is rare enough to be memorable.

Quick wins up front, then the system behind them:

Xi sounds like "shee" (soft), not "zee" or "eks-eye"
Q sounds like a soft "ch": Qing is "ching," not "kwing"
Zh sounds like "j": Zhang is "jahng," not "zang"
C sounds like "ts": Cai is "tsigh," not "kai" or "sigh"
The family name comes first in Chinese order: in 王小明 (Wáng Xiǎomíng), Wang is the surname.

Name order: which part is the surname?

Chinese names put the family name first and the given name second. Surnames are usually one syllable; given names are one or two. So Li Wei is Mr. or Ms. Li, and Zhang Xiaohong is Ms. Zhang. Many Chinese people abroad flip to Western order (Wei Li) or add an English given name, so when in doubt, listen for which part they introduce themselves by, or just ask. Asking how to say someone's name is polite in every culture; mangling it confidently is not.

The 10 most common Chinese surnames, pronounced

These cover a huge share of the population, so they're worth learning as words:

王 (Wáng): "wahng," rising tone. Means king.
李 (Lǐ): "lee," low tone. Also spelled Lee.
张 (Zhāng): "jahng," high flat tone. The zh is a j sound.
刘 (Liú): "lyoh," rising tone, one syllable (not "lee-oo").
陈 (Chén): "chun," rising tone. Also spelled Chan (Cantonese).
杨 (Yáng): "yahng," rising tone.
黄 (Huáng): "hwahng," rising tone. Also spelled Wong (Cantonese).
赵 (Zhào): "jow" (rhymes with "now"), falling tone.
吴 (Wú): "woo," rising tone.
周 (Zhōu): "joe," high flat tone. As in Zhou Enlai; also spelled Chou.

The pinyin letters that trip everyone up

Chinese names written in English letters use pinyin, and pinyin assigns a few letters to sounds English doesn't expect. Here's the name-reader's cheat sheet:

x = soft "sh" (tongue low, behind your bottom teeth): Xu is "shü," Xiao is "shyow," Xi is "shee"
q = soft "ch": Qian is "chyen," Qiu is "chyo"
j = soft "j": Jiang is "jyahng"
zh = "j" with the tongue curled back: Zhu is "joo," Zhao is "jow"
ch = "ch" with the tongue curled back: Chen is "chun"
sh = "sh" with the tongue curled back: Shi is "shrr"
c = "ts": Cao is "tsow," Cui is "tsway"
z = "dz": Zeng is "dzung," Zou is "dzoh"
r = a buzzy r, close to the s in "measure": Ren is "run" with that buzz
-i after zh/ch/sh/z/c/s isn't "ee," it's a buzz: Shi is "shrr," Zi is "dzz"
e alone = "uh": He is "huh," not "hee"; Ye is the exception, "yeh"
ü (written u after j, q, x, y) = "ee" said with rounded lips: Yu, Xu, Ju

The full sound system, with mouth positions and audio, is in our Chinese pronunciation guide.

What about the tones in names?

Every Chinese name has tones: 王 (Wáng) rises, 赵 (Zhào) falls. In an English-language conversation, most Chinese speakers don't expect tones from non-speakers, and names written in English letters don't show them anyway. Reasonable standard: get the consonants and vowels right always; add the tones when you know them, especially for people you talk to often. If you want to hear the tones, look the character up on its Chenjin dictionary page and press play, or read the melody from the tone marks with our tones guide.

How to find the pronunciation of any Chinese name

If you have the characters: paste them into our free Chinese to pinyin converter to get tone-marked pinyin, then read it with the cheat sheet above. Individual characters each have a dictionary page with audio.
If you only have the romanized name: the cheat sheet covers you for Mandarin pinyin. Spellings like Wong, Chan, Lee, and Ng usually come from Cantonese or older romanizations, so the Mandarin rules won't apply; when in doubt, ask the person.
If you want to say it well: record yourself and compare against audio. Chenjin's Tone Coach shows your pitch against a native model syllable by syllable, which works as well for a name as for any other word.

A note on famous names you've heard said many ways

News anchors have made some Mandarin names familiar in half-right forms. A few corrected quickly: Xi Jinping is "shee jin-ping" (not "zee"), Zhang Yimou is "jahng ee-moh," Chongqing the city is "chong-ching." You don't need to out-pronounce the news, but knowing the system means you're never guessing.

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce the Chinese surname Nguyen?

You don't: Nguyen is Vietnamese, not Chinese (it corresponds to the Chinese surname 阮, Ruǎn, in Mandarin). Names ending in -uyen or starting with Ng- as a full syllable are usually Vietnamese; Ng alone as a surname is typically Cantonese (吴, Mandarin Wú).

Is it Wade-Giles or pinyin I'm reading?

Mainland Chinese names in modern sources use pinyin. Older spellings (Mao Tse-tung, Peking, Chungking) are Wade-Giles or postal romanizations; Taiwan uses a mix. If you see ts-, hs-, or apostrophes like Ch'en, it's an older system: hs = pinyin x, ts = z or c, p/t/k unaspirated = b/d/g.

Should I try to use tones when saying a Chinese friend's name?

If you know them, yes, gently. Getting a friend's name tones right is a small gift, and nobody reasonable faults an attempt. If tones are new territory, start with our complete tones guide; a single two-syllable name is a perfect first tone-pair exercise.

Want to hear any Chinese name or word aloud? Create a free Chenjin account: every word has a dictionary page with audio, stroke order, and tone-marked pinyin.