秀 xiù — what the character means in a Chinese name

What 秀 means in a Chinese namexiù

11,281 real names in the 1.14M-name corpus♂ 733 · ♀ 10,5487 strokesdata & verification

tier B

谷类抽穗开花；引申为优异、秀美。

Grain coming into ear — and from that, excellence.

1 处原典 · 1 部典籍 · 全部可核

实发实秀 From sprout to ear

实发实秀，实坚实好。

It sprouts, it comes into ear, it hardens, it ripens well.

诗经 · 生民 · our translation

Four stages of a crop. 秀 is not prettiness but the moment the grain comes into ear. 写庄稼的一生：发芽、抽穗、结实、成熟。「秀」最初不是「好看」，是长到了抽穗那一步。

秀出清秀秀实秀之英秀

In a name

Having grown to the point of fruiting.

「秀」是长到了抽穗那一步。

1 sourced citation · every line verified character-for-character against a versioned corpus — read or verify the dataset