Orient Name › Characters › 海

What 海 means in a Chinese namehǎi

19,194 real names in the 1.14M-name corpus♂ 13,316 · ♀ 5,87810 strokesdata & verification
海hǎi · A
tier A

众水所归的大水域;引申为广大、容量、远方。

The sea — where all waters end up; by extension breadth, capacity, and distance.

3 处原典 · 3 部典籍 · 全部可核

四海皆兄弟 Breadth that includes people

君子敬而无失,与人恭而有礼,四海之内皆兄弟也。

If a gentleman is careful and does not slip, and treats others with courtesy, then within the four seas all men are his brothers.

论语 · 颜渊篇 · our translation
The four seas are not geography but a way of saying "everywhere". Do it properly and there are no outsiders. 「四海」不是地理,是把范围放到最大的一种说法:做到了敬与恭,就没有「外人」。
有本者不竭 Full because it has a source

盈科而后进,放乎四海,有本者如是。

It fills every hollow before moving on, and reaches the four seas — that is what having a source looks like.

孟子 · 離婁下 · our translation
Water fills each hollow before it moves on, which is why it reaches the sea. Mencius uses it for having a source: only what is fed goes far. 水先把路上的坑洼注满再往前走,所以最后能到海。孟子用它讲「有本」——有源头的东西才走得远。
名声远播 A name that carries

名声若日,照四海只。

A name like the sun, lighting the four seas.

楚辞 · 大招 · our translation
From a summoning song: renown compared to the sun over the four seas. More concrete than "vast" — it means being known. 《大招》里的招魂辞,用「日照四海」形容名声之大。这一层比「辽阔」更具体:是被人知道。
海纳百川四海沧海海川海宁海清海岳望海
In a name

Capacity rather than drama: everything can come in, and it does not become agitated.

「海」给名字的是容量:什么都能进来,但自己不乱。