Not a dictionary entry: what the character has meant in Chinese names, with the original line it comes from. Every quotation below is matched character-for-character against a versioned corpus shipped with this site. Where a page names a character's origin, that line is our own paraphrase of the standard dictionaries — it is not a quotation, and it carries no book title for that reason.
返景入深林,复照青苔上。
The low sun enters the deep wood and lights the moss again.
深林人不知,明月来相照。
Deep in the wood, no one knows I am here; the bright moon comes to keep me company.
A grove rather than a single tree: 林 gives the name a place to be, not just an object.
「林」在名字里不是一个字,是一片地方——它让名字有了可以待着的地方感。
硕人其颀,衣锦褧衣。
The tall lady, wearing brocade over a plain gown.
考槃在涧,硕人之宽。
He builds his hut by the stream; the great man is at his ease.
人莫知其子之恶,莫知其苗之硕。
No one knows the faults of his own son, nor how sturdy his own seedlings have grown.
Scale with substance inside it — not a big reputation, a full one.
「硕」是体量与充实:不是名声大,是里面有东西。
由也升堂矣,未入于室也。
You has climbed into the hall, but has not yet entered the inner room.
堂堂乎张也,难与并为仁矣。
How imposing Zizhang is — and yet it is hard to reach humaneness alongside him.
Open and upright: the door is open, and you can stand straight inside.
「堂」是敞亮正大:门开着,进得来,也站得直。
Mandarin is tonal: the same letters said on a different pitch are a different word. The line below is the pitch you actually travel while saying the name.
We checked it against a corpus of 1,142,000 real Chinese names — this is not a combination invented for the page.
Five dimensions, each scored independently. Every bar below is a real computed value — the same rule set that generated the candidate list, not a separate "premium" model.
A Chinese name is almost never used in full. In daily life it gets a prefix, a suffix, or is cut to the given name alone — and which one you get tells you how close the person thinks they are to you.
Patterns, not rules: what you are called depends on your age, the relationship, and the region. In the south you will also hear 阿 + given name between friends.
Wood, harvest, hall — from the wild to the house: shelter, a gathering, somewhere to sit.
从野外到家门:有林可依,有实可收,有堂可居。
Ten layouts, one set of facts — the name, how it is pronounced, what each character means, the score and the five elements. Pick a style, then save it at full size. Real type, not an image model: the name can never be misspelt.

No account, no payment, no watermark. Type a name and you get the characters, the sound, and where each character comes from.
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