Pronouncing Chinese Names This guide is for Chinese names written in the Pinyin Romanization system used in the People’s Republic of China If written in Chinese style, the family name comes first, followed by the given name or names, e.g 毛泽东 written in Chinese characters, or Mao Zedong using pinyin romanization Traditionally there are two given names—when written in pinyin these are usually written as one name without space or hyphen.1 It is also very common to find people with only one given name This guide is written for English speakers and is designed to provide a close approximation to standard Mandarin pronunciation China is a very large country with many regional dialects and accents This guide is not perfect, but should get you very close to the standard pronunciation.2 The names marked with an asterisk are the 25 most common family names in China Initial/Final Sound Pinyin English sound Examples & Hints initial b b be initial c ts bats initial ch ch china initial d d initial f f fun initial g g go initial h h he initial j j jay initial k k key initial l l like initial m m me initial n n no initial p p people initial q ch china initial r r run initial s s so initial sh sh she initial t t to initial x sh she initial w w we initial y y you initial z ds ads initial zh j jay Family Names Bai Cai Chen* Dai Fang Guo* and Gao* Hu* Jiang Kong Li* Mai Nai Pan Qian Ran Sun* Shi Tang* Xu* Wang* Yang* Zou Zhou* Traditionally the middle character was used as a generational name shared by siblings and cousins It is not considered a middle name as we think of them Chinese characters have different meanings depending on the tone In Mandarin Chinese there are pitched tones and a “toneless” tone To simplify this tutorial, tones are not discussed If you are interested you can ask the student the proper tones to pronounce his name If a “y” is followed by any final sound beginning with “i”, the y is silent UC Davis SISS – August 2015 Initial/Final Sound Pinyin English sound Examples & Hints final a ah rhymes with lah dee dah final eye eye final an ahn aun in aunt (not ant) final ang ahng French: anglais final ao aoww cow final e uh uugh final ei ay day final en un runner final eng ung ung in bungle final i ee/ir/uh4 bee in most cases girl after r, zh, ch or sh estimate after z, c or s final ia yah yahoo final ian yen yen final iang yahng ang in French: anglais final iao yoww yowwch! final ie yeh e in ebony final in in in final ing ing king final iong yoong ung in German: achtung! final iu yew you final o o wore NOT woe final ong oong ung in German: achtung! final ou oh oh Family Names Ma* Nai Nan Zhang* Zhao* He* Lei Ren Zheng* Qi Jia Qian Liang* Xiao Xie* Lin* Jing Xiong Liu* Bo Song* Zhou Wu* and Zhu* Huai Huang* final u oo boo! final uai why why final uang wahng ang in French: anglais final uan when/wahn sounds like when after y, j, q and x; otherwise like wand final ue weh whe in where final ui way way final un wuen un in Spanish: junta final uo wo wore NOT woe Guan Xue Rui Yun Luo* and Zhuo* Directions Determine which is the family name and if there is one given name or two For each name identify the initial sound and final sound Each name is only one syllable Locate the sounds on the appropriate table above to determine the correct pronunciation Say it out loud and see if the student recognizes his or her name Get feedback and make any needed adjustments The sound of an “i” following a z, c, or s is not so much like the “uh” sound of the “e.” I couldn’t think of an equivalent sound in English other than the perhaps the i in intimate Not being a linguist, I’m not certain that this is even that different… UC Davis SISS – August 2015