Exploring Chinese names of Taiwan
A while ago, I stumbled across this press release for Taiwan's National Names Statistical Analysis report. Then I clicked on the full report and spent days glued to my screen reading it!
So, courtesy of Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior, let's look at some of the data. We will look at: top given names, top full names, and top unisex names.
Format:
陈淑芬 | 陳淑芬 Chén Shūfēn | Chén Shúfēn / 3747人
简体 | 繁體 读音 | 台湾读音 / 人数
(Simp.) | (trad.) (pronunciation) | (Taiwan pronunciation) / (# people)
I put simplified first for consistency with the rest of my blog. 简体 | 繁體 is the convention I use in many other posts.
Top 10 given names (by decade)
The report shows the top names by decade, which is really fascinating because you can see how tastes and trends changed over time. I'm just going to show the overall top 10 and last three full decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s) but you can see the rest on pg. 280 of the report (pg. 281 of the PDF).
Male
Overall
家豪 Jiāháo / 14,038人
志明 Zhìmíng / 12,719人
建宏 Jiànhóng / 12,196人
俊杰 | 俊傑 Jùnjié / 12,187人
俊宏 Jùnhóng / 11,189人
志豪 Zhìháo / 10,676人
志伟 | 志偉 Zhìwěi / 10,563人
承翰 Chénghàn / 9726人
冠宇 Guànyǔ / 9655人
志强 | 志強 Zhìqiáng / 9101人
1991-2000
家豪 Jiāháo / 4039人
冠宇 Guànyǔ / 3603人
冠廷 Guàntíng / 3399人
承翰 Chénghàn / 3008人
宗翰 Zōnghàn / 2831人
柏翰 Bóhàn / 2594人
彦廷 | 彥廷 Yàntíng / 2502人
冠霖 Guànlín / 2114人
俊杰 | 俊傑 Jùnjié / 2084人
承恩 Chéng’ēn / 1918人
2001-2010
承恩 Chéng’ēn / 2997人
承翰 Chénghàn / 2636人
冠廷 Guàntíng / 2452人
冠宇 Guànyǔ / 2206人
宇翔 Yǔxiáng / 1938人
柏翰 Bóhàn / 1885人
彦廷 | 彥廷 Yàntíng / 1610人
冠霖 Guànlín / 1509人
柏宇 Bóyǔ / 1471人
柏谚 | 柏諺 Bóyàn / 1409人
2011-2020
承恩 Chéng’ēn / 2215人
宥廷 Yòutíng / 2036人
品睿 Pǐnruì / 2021人
宸睿 Chénruì / 1904人
宇恩 Yǔ’ēn / 1860人
宇翔 Yǔxiáng / 1713人
承翰 Chénghàn / 1556人
宥辰 Yòuchén / 1532人
柏睿 Bóruì / 1511人
睿恩 Ruì’ēn / 1503人
Female
Overall
淑芬 Shūfēn | Shúfēn / 31,879人
淑惠 Shūhuì | Shúhuì / 30,420人
美玲 Měilíng / 27,487人
丽华 | 麗華 Lìhuá / 25,624人
美惠 Měihuì / 25,015人
淑贞 | 淑貞 Shūzhēn | Shúzhēn / 23,904人
雅婷 Yǎtíng / 23,407人
秀英 Xiùyīng / 23,020人
淑娟 Shūjuān | Shújuān / 22,828人
秀琴 Xiùqín / 22,266人
1991-2000
雅婷 Yǎtíng / 5797人
怡君 Yíjūn / 3575人
怡婷 Yítíng / 3183人
雅雯 Yǎwén / 3084人
诗涵 | 詩涵 Shīhán / 3006人
钰婷 | 鈺婷 Yùtíng / 2775人
怡萱 Yíxuān / 2729人
雅筑 Yǎzhù | Yǎzhú / 2700人
郁婷 Yùtíng / 2600人
宜庭 Yítíng / 2555人
2001-2010
宜蓁 Yízhēn / 2629人
欣妤 Xīnyú / 1643人
诗涵 | 詩涵 Shīhán / 1610人
思妤 Sīyú / 1561人
雅婷 Yǎtíng / 1439人
宜庭 Yítíng / 1394人
佳颖 | 佳穎 Jiāyǐng / 1375人
品妤 Pǐnyú / 1336人
子涵 Zǐhán / 1271人
怡萱 Yíxuān / 1258人
2011-2020
品妍 Pǐnyán/ 2421人
子晴 Zǐqíng / 2087人
咏晴 | 詠晴 Yǒngqíng / 2001人
品妤 Pǐnyú / 1697人
禹彤 Yǔtóng / 1578人
羽彤 Yǔtóng / 1434人
芯语 | 芯語 Xīnyǔ / 1342人
宥蓁 Yòuzhēn / 1226人
语彤 | 語彤 Yǔtóng / 1221人
苡晴 Yǐqíng / 1164人
Top 10 full names
In Mainland China the most common full names are usually something like 张伟 and 李娜. In Taiwan, 单名 (single-character given names) are much rarer, so the results are very different. We can also really see the dominance of the surname 陈 here. The rest of the top 100 are on pg. 268 of the report (pg. 269 of the PDF).
Male
陈冠宇 | 陳冠宇 Chén Guànyǔ / 4021人
陈建宏 | 陳建宏 Chén Jiànhóng / 3524人
张家豪 | 張家豪 Zhāng Jiāháo / 2890人
陈俊宏 | 陳俊宏 Chén Jùnhóng / 2801人
陈冠廷 | 陳冠廷 Chén Guàntíng / 2469人
陈柏宇 | 陳柏宇 Chén Bóyǔ / 2383人
林建宏 Lín Jiànhóng / 2375人
陈柏翰 | 陳柏翰 Chén Bóhàn / 2353人
陈彦廷 | 陳彥廷 Chén Yàntíng / 2249人
陈信宏 | 陳信宏 Chén Xìnhóng / 2120人
Female
陈怡君 | 陳怡君 Chén Yíjūn / 5744人
林怡君 Lín Yíjūn / 4401人
陈淑芬 | 陳淑芬 Chén Shūfēn | Chén Shúfēn / 3747人
张雅婷 | 張雅婷 Zhāng Yǎtíng / 3491人
陈美玲 | 陳美玲 Chén Měilíng / 3235人
陈怡如 | 陳怡如 Chén Yírú / 3121人
陈美惠 | 陳美惠 Chén Měihuì / 3103人
陈淑惠 | 陳淑惠 Chén Shūhuì | Chén Shúhuì / 2921人
林淑惠 Lín Shūhuì | Lín Shúhuì / 2903人
陈淑贞 | 陳淑貞 Chén Shūzhēn | Chén Shúzhēn / 2751人
Unisex/gender-neutral names
Do you want a name that doesn't strongly lean towards masculine or feminine? The report also highlight the common names across genders. It seems their criteria for this was names falling between 40% male-60% female and 60% male-40% female.
To clarify, they actually looked at the top 100 full names, not given names. For instance, 宥均 Yòujūn was on the list three times with three different surnames. But I re-sorted the list by given name since I was curious to see that. You can find the original data on pg. 270 of the report (pg. 271 of the PDF).
宥均 Yòujūn
Total: 1804人
Male: 54.77%
Female: 45.23%
佳霖 Jiālín
Total: 1111人
Male: 51.67%
Female: 48.33%
家华 | 家華 Jiāhuá
Total: 923人
Male: 53.41%
Female: 46.59%
郁文 Yùwén
Total: 847人
Male: 43.68%
Female: 56.32%
禹安 Yǔ’ān
Total: 789人
Male: 51.71%
Female: 48.29%
以恩 Yǐ’ēn
Total: 730人
Male: 49.32%
Female: 50.68%
孟儒 Mèngrú
Total: 643人
Male: 55.05%
Female: 44.95%
冠桦 | 冠樺 Guànhuà
Total: 643人
Male: 52.26%
Female: 47.74%
靖恩 Jìng’ēn
Total: 621人
Male: 44.93%
Female: 55.07%
品辰 Pǐnchén
Total: 600人
Male: 58.83%
Female: 41.17%
Notes
The report is INCREDIBLY detailed. I'm not kidding. The body of the report is not that long, but it has a very long appendix with about 200 pages of tables. Here are some examples of data included that I didn't mention:
Most popular given names people changed their names to
Most common 单名 and 叠字名字
Most common last names by city/county
Indigenous peoples' use of the Latin alphabet for names
Prevalence of multi-character surnames
And so, so much more!
And FYI, the report uses the ROC calendar, which starts with the founding of the Republic of China. To convert from the ROC calendar to the Gregorian calendar, add 111.
Ex:
1年=1912
112年=2023
Pronunciation & tones
冠 is a 多音字 that is pronounced guān or guàn. I went with guàn because that seems to be more common in names from what I've observed.
柏 is also a 多音字 that can be pronounced bǎi or bó. MDBG says Taiwan doesn't have the bǎi pronunciation. I usually hear it read as bó in names, so that's what I'm going with.
MDBG also says 淑 is pronounced shú (not shū) in Taiwan. Likewise, it says 筑 is zhú (not zhù). I'll take their word for it.
I tried to put apostrophes in the right places (like for 承恩 Chéng’ēn), but I'm really bad at knowing when and where to use it. Please pardon any mistakes!
See similar posts:
Chinese surnames that are more common in Taiwan
A closer look at Chinese names
Analyzing Chinese names: Syllables & tones
The evolution of Chinese names (Kontinentalist)
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Analyzing Chinese Names: Syllables & Tones
It’s been a while since my last post about Chinese names. In one previous post, I wrote that I wanted to explore tones and syllable structure in Chinese names. And now here we are. I ended up shifting my focus a bit throughout the process, but I’m still excited to be sharing my results.
These questions/ideas guided this post:
Sometimes you don’t know how a name is written because you’ve only heard it or seen a transliteration. Setting aside the written language (Chinese characters), what syllables/sounds are most common?
I have read about naming conventions regarding tones. For example, using a mix of tones (instead of reusing the same tone) gives names a dynamic flow. So how are tones distributed in names?
Buckle up, everyone. This is gonna be a long one.
About the Data
I started with the data from my previous in-depth post about Chinese names. Like before, most names are from contestants on idol shows or members of idol groups. I added more names in this category and also some names of athletes (since for athletes it is also relatively easy to discern gender). In total, there were 4361 names (2340 female, 2021 male). Most names belong to individuals from Mainland China, but there are also names belonging to people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. See my past post for more details.
I had to do a lot of work to process the name data for this analysis. I will add some details towards the end of this post for those who are interested. I just want to note here that:
I did some work to account for tone sandhi for yi 一. As a result, you may see this character labeled as 1st, 2nd, or 4th tone.
I also applied tone change rules when there were multiple 3rd tones in a row (but not for surnames as it shouldn’t change there).
I had to correct for duoyinzi 多音字. Most of the time, it’s pretty clear which pronunciation is used, but there are some ambiguous cases.
I use standard Mainland pronunciation, not Taiwanese pronunciation. Characters like 薇 are pronounced differently in these locations.
I’m an imperfect human and probably didn’t catch everything. So keep that in mind.
Given Names (Overall)
First we will examine the overall results for all syllables across all given names to get a nice overview. Then we will dive into single-character given names vs. two-character given names.
Top Given Name Syllables (w/ Tones)
Pictured: Some of the most frequent characters for the top 11 syllables.
List format:
Syllable / count
Corresponding characters that occurred more than once
Yǔ / 263
宇 雨 羽 语 予 禹 瑀
Xīn / 229
欣 鑫 馨 心 昕 新 歆 芯 薪
Jiā / 216
佳 嘉 家 加 珈
Yì / 201
一 艺 奕 逸 亦 毅 懿 翊 义 易 翼 忆 意 译 轶 熠 羿 亿 薏
Zǐ / 139
子 梓 紫
Qí / 134
琪 琦 奇 祺 麒 淇 齐 棋 其 岐 崎
Wén / 116
文 雯 闻 纹
Jié / 112
杰 洁 婕 捷 颉 倢
Yù / 102
玉 钰 煜 昱 郁 裕 喻 谕 毓 育 誉
Jùn / 99
俊 峻 珺 骏 浚 竣
Yáng / 99
洋 阳 扬 杨 炀 旸
Top Given Name Syllables (w/o Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
Corresponding characters that occurred more than once
Yu / 419
宇 雨 玉 羽 钰 语 瑜 予 妤 煜 禹 昱 郁 俞 渝 裕 于 喻 瑀 谕 余 娱 愚 毓 育 誉
Yi / 356
一 怡 艺 奕 仪 依 逸 亦 伊 毅 宜 懿 翊 义 祎 易 翼 苡 忆 意 译 轶 颐 乙 以 熠 羿 亿 倚 薏
Xin / 232
欣 鑫 馨 心 昕 新 歆 芯 薪 信
Jia / 217
佳 嘉 家 加 珈
Jun / 165
俊 君 峻 钧 军 珺 均 骏 浚 竣
Zi / 157
子 梓 紫 姿 兹
Qi / 151
琪 琦 奇 祺 绮 麒 启 淇 齐 棋 其 岐 崎
Hao / 141
豪 浩 昊 皓 灏 淏 濠
Wei / 139
伟 玮 威 维 薇 蔚 微 炜 唯 纬 葳 为 崴 巍 𬀩 苇 韦
Xiao / 136
晓 小 笑 筱 孝 潇 篠 箫 肖
Given Name Syllable Tones
List format:
Tone / count
2nd / 2729
1st / 1993
4th / 1885
3rd / 1167
Single-Character Given Names (单名)
There were 948 single-character names in total. That comes out to about 22% of all 4361 names.
Top Single-Character Given Names (w/ Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
All corresponding characters
Xīn / 41
鑫 欣 昕 馨 新 心 锌
Yáng / 29
洋 扬 杨 阳 旸 炀
Yǔ / 20
宇 雨 禹 羽 瑀 语
Lì / 18
丽 立 莉 俐 栎 栗
Yì / 18
艺 奕 逸 忆 易 毅 燚 羿
Yuè / 18
悦 玥 越 月 粤 跃
Jié / 17
洁 杰 倢 婕 捷 颉
Hào / 16
浩 昊 淏 灏
Jìng / 14
静 婧 靓* 竞 靖
Qiàn / 14
倩 茜**
*Can be pronounced jìng or liàng. I went with jìng.
**Can be pronounced qiàn or xī. I went with qiàn.
Top Single-Character Given Names (w/o Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
All corresponding characters
Xin / 41
鑫 欣 昕 馨 新 心 锌
Yu / 31
宇 雨 钰 煜 玉 瑜 禹 羽 昱 渝 瑀 语
Yang / 29
洋 扬 杨 阳 旸 炀
Yi / 23
艺 奕 怡 逸 一 忆 易 毅 燚 祎 羿
Wei / 22
伟 威 炜 维 蔚 薇 𬀩 玮
Hao / 19
浩 昊 豪 淏 灏
Jing / 19
静 晶 婧 靓* 璟 竞 菁 靖
Li / 19
丽 立 莉 俐 李 栎 栗
Ying / 19
颖 莹 影 滢 赢 瀛 盈
Yue / 18
悦 玥 越 月 粤 跃
*Can be pronounced jìng or liàng. I went with jìng.
Single-Character Name Tones
List format:
Tone / count
2nd / 308
4th / 264
1st / 253
3rd / 123
Full Name Tone Patterns for Single-Character Given Names
Look at the darker “stripes” for the 2nd tone. The 3rd tone’s low popularity also stood out to me.
List format:
Tone of surname, tone of given name / count
2nd, 2nd / 140
2nd, 1st / 127
2nd, 4th / 123
1st, 2nd / 80
1st, 4th / 73
1st, 1st / 68
2nd, 3rd / 52
4th, 2nd / 45
3rd, 2nd / 43
1st, 3rd / 39
3rd, 4th / 37
4th, 4th / 31
3rd, 1st / 29
4th, 1st / 29
4th, 3rd / 17
3rd, 3rd / 15
Two-Character Given Names (双名)
Now for two-character given names. There were 3413 total (about 78%). First I will look at these given names as a whole. Then I will separately examine the 1st syllable and 2nd syllable positions.
I was very interested to see the most common name going by sound and not characters. Living in the US, I often see transliterated Chinese names with no characters in sight. This effectively “merges” names that are distinct in Chinese. All I can do is guess what the characters (and thus tones) are.
Top Two-Character Given Names (w/ Tones)
Pictured: Character combinations that occurred more than once for the top 12 two-character given names.
List format:
Given name / count
All corresponding character combinations
Jiāxīn / 17
嘉欣 佳欣 佳薪 佳鑫 嘉新 嘉歆 嘉馨
Jiāyí / 12
佳怡 嘉怡 佳仪 嘉仪 家仪 家怡
Xīnyǔ / 10
心雨 新宇 心语 欣宇 欣雨 鑫宇 馨予
Xīnyuè / 10
馨月 心玥 昕玥 欣悦 歆玥 馨悦 馨玥
Hàorán / 9
浩然 皓然
Jùnjié / 9
俊杰 俊洁
Chénxī / 8
晨曦 晨熙 晨晞 晨晰 晨溪
Jiāqí / 8
佳琦 家齐 佳琪 嘉琪 嘉祺 嘉齐
Shānshān / 8
珊珊 杉杉 姗姗
Xīnyí / 8
心怡 欣怡 心仪 鑫怡
Yìwén / 8
一文 奕雯 艺文 译文 逸文
Yǔqíng / 8
雨晴 语晴 宇晴 雨情
Top Two-Character Given Names (w/o Tones)
List format:
Given name / count
All corresponding character combinations
Jiaxin / 17
嘉欣 佳欣 佳薪 佳鑫 嘉新 嘉歆 嘉馨
Jiayi / 16
佳怡 嘉怡 佳仪 佳依 加一 嘉仪 嘉艺 嘉谊 家仪 家怡 家毅
Xinyu / 15
心雨 欣妤 新宇 心妤 心玉 心语 欣宇 欣雨 鑫宇 馨予
Junjie / 12
俊杰 军杰 俊洁 钧杰
Xiaoyu / 12
小雨 晓玉 晓钰 小钰 晓宇 晓瑜 晓雨 笑语
Yifan / 12
一凡 艺凡 一帆 一幡 一璠 依凡 屹繁 怡凡 薏帆
Xinyi / 10
心怡 欣怡 心仪 欣佚 鑫一 鑫怡
Xinyue / 10
馨月 心玥 昕玥 欣悦 歆玥 馨悦 馨玥
Yuqing / 10
雨晴 语晴 宇庆 宇晴 钰清 雨情
Two-Character Given Name Tones
The grey square is due to the 3rd tone tone change rule.
List format:
Tone of given name 1st syllable, tone of given name 2nd syllable / count
4th, 2nd / 560
1st, 2nd / 421
3rd, 2nd / 373
2nd, 2nd / 304
4th, 1st / 282
3rd, 1st / 191
1st, 1st / 183
2nd, 1st / 177
1st, 4th / 169
2nd, 4th / 152
1st, 3rd / 134
2nd, 3rd / 130
4th, 4th / 121
3rd, 4th / 120
4th, 3rd / 96
Full Name Tone Patterns for Two-Character Given Names
Pictured: The top 10 full name tone patterns for two-character given names.
I found these results very interesting. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve read about how using certain sequences of tones creates a pleasant-sounding flow. I had some fun saying aloud names that fit these patterns and judging the dynamic ups-and-downs of how they flow.
List format:
Tone of surname, tone of given name 1st syllable, tone of given name 2nd syllable / count
2nd, 4th, 2nd / 273
2nd, 1st, 2nd / 179
2nd, 3rd, 2nd / 179
2nd, 4th, 1st / 138
1st, 4th, 2nd / 135
2nd, 2nd, 2nd / 129
1st, 3rd, 2nd / 98
2nd, 3rd, 1st / 95
2nd, 1st, 4th / 92
1st, 1st, 2nd / 89
These are only the top 10 patterns. See the bottom of the post for the full list.
Two-Character Given Names: First Syllable
Top First Syllables for Two-Character Given Names (w/ Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
Corresponding characters that occurred more than once
Jiā / 171
佳 嘉 家 加 珈
Yì / 138
一 艺 奕 逸 亦 翊 易 义 懿 翼 译 亿 忆 毅 羿 薏 轶
Zǐ / 123
子 梓 紫
Yǔ / 115
雨 宇 语 羽 禹 予
Xīn / 95
欣 心 馨 鑫 新 昕 歆 薪 芯
Xiǎo / 79
晓 小 筱
Jùn / 69
俊 峻 珺 竣 骏
Sī / 63
思 斯
Yù / 53
玉 钰 煜 昱 郁 裕 喻 毓 育 誉
Mèng / 49
梦 孟
Top First Syllables for Two-Character Given Names (w/o Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
Corresponding characters that occurred more than once
Yi / 201
一 艺 奕 怡 依 逸 亦 翊 伊 宜 易 苡 义 乙 以 懿 翼 译 亿 忆 毅 祎 羿 薏 轶
Yu / 188
雨 宇 语 玉 钰 羽 禹 煜 俞 昱 郁 于 渝 裕 予 喻 毓 瑜 育 誉
Jia / 171
佳 嘉 家 加 珈
Zi / 133
子 梓 紫 姿
Xiao / 118
晓 小 笑 孝 潇 筱
Xin / 98
欣 心 馨 鑫 新 昕 歆 信 薪 芯
Jun / 84
俊 峻 君 钧 军 珺 竣 骏
Jing / 67
静 婧 景 敬 靖 晶 京 竞
Zhi / 61
智 志 芷 之 治 知 祉
Si / 60
思 斯
First Syllable Tones for Two-Character Given Names
List format:
Tone / count
4th / 1059
1st / 907
2nd / 763
3rd / 684
Two-Character Given Names: Second Syllable
Top Second Syllables for Two-Character Given Names (w/ Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
Corresponding characters that occurred more than once
Yǔ / 128
宇 雨 羽 予 语 瑀 禹
Qí / 100
琪 琦 祺 奇 淇 齐 棋 麒 岐
Xīn / 93
欣 鑫 馨 昕 心 新 歆 芯
Jié / 83
杰 洁 婕 捷
Wén / 68
文 雯
Yí / 63
怡 仪 宜 颐
Lín / 61
霖 琳 林 麟 淋
Tíng / 61
婷 廷 庭
Yuán / 59
源 元 媛 圆 园 缘 原
Yáng / 58
阳 洋 扬 杨 炀
Top Second Syllables for Two-Character Given Names (w/o Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
Corresponding characters that occurred more than once
Yu / 200
宇 雨 玉 羽 瑜 妤 予 钰 语 昱 煜 谕 郁 余 瑀 禹
Yi / 132
怡 仪 一 毅 依 艺 逸 亦 伊 宜 懿 颐 义 奕 意 祎 熠 翼 轶
Qi / 105
琪 琦 祺 奇 淇 绮 齐 棋 麒 岐
Xin / 93
欣 鑫 馨 昕 心 新 歆 芯
Jie / 83
杰 洁 婕 捷
Wei / 75
伟 玮 薇 维 威 微 炜 蔚 葳 崴 纬
Hao / 74
豪 昊 浩 皓 濠
Jun / 72
君 俊 钧 峻 军 均 珺 骏
Wen / 68
文 雯
Yuan / 68
源 元 媛 圆 远 园 渊 缘 原
Second Syllable Tones for Two-Character Given Names
List format:
Tone / count
2nd / 1658
1st / 833
4th / 562
3rd / 360
Surnames
Because the majority of the population shares a relatively small number of surnames, I decided to only look at tones.
Surname Tones
List format:
Tone / count
2nd / 2047
1st / 1072
3rd / 640
4th / 602
Just take a look at the top 20 surnames in China. Clearly, the 2nd tone is dominating. There’s only one 4th tone surname!
Data Processing
I segmented the names so each character was alone. I just did this in Google Sheets, because that’s where I store the names I’ve gathered. Then I exported the data in CSV format.
I discarded names longer than 3 characters—because these are less common, I decided not to address them to make things easier for myself.
I used the pinyin library for Python to obtain pinyin for each character. I used the numerical format (ie. “ni3”) so that I could easily obtain the syllable w/o tone, the syllable w/ tone, and the tone. I also utilized pandas and numpy. This was done in Google Colabs. I made the unfortunate mistake of not commenting my code, and I wrote it a while ago, so I now I have no idea what is going on (whoops).
Next I dumped this data into a tibble in R for the real analysis.
For as many 多音字 as I could identify, I had to check and potentially fix the pinyin transcription. For example, I had to make sure that 曾 was going to zeng1, not ceng2. Honestly, I’m sure I missed something, but this was so, so tedious. This is also the step where I accounted for the 3rd tone tone change and yi 一 tone change rules.
I used a Python script to convert the toneless pinyin to my own syllable notation system. This was tricky to figure out, but fortunately I was able to use some code I already had from a project I was involved in during college.
I added the syllable info to my giant tibble in R. Because everything was separated into surname, given name 1st character, and given name 2nd character, I also had to create some new columns to combine information to get information for whole given names and full names.
Then it was basically a lot of pipes. Here’s an example:
names %>%
filter(nchar(names$name) > 2) %>%
group_by(given_struc) %>%
summarise(count = n()) %>%
arrange(desc(count)) %>%
view()
Bonus Lists
There were some other things I was curious about but felt didn’t have a place in the main body of this post.
I wanted to see which syllables were represented by the most unique characters in my dataset. If the number of unique characters is high, that’s a sign that I would probably have trouble guessing which character someone’s name contains.
I was also curious about open vs. closed syllables and closed syllables ending in /n/ vs. /ŋ/. For instance, take a pair of names like Yixin and Xinyi or Xinling and Lingxin. These names consist of the same syllables in a different order. I wanted to know which order is more common.
Syllables with the Most Unique Characters (w/ Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
All corresponding characters
Yì / 27
一 艺 奕 逸 亦 毅 懿 翊 义 易 翼 忆 意 译 轶 熠 羿 亿 薏 佚 佾 埸 屹 异 弋 怿 燚 翌
Qí / 15
琪 琦 奇 祺 麒 淇 齐 棋 其 岐 崎 圻 祁 祈 骐
Yú / 14
瑜 妤 俞 渝 于 余 娱 愚 宇*** 愉 榆 舆 雨*** 鱼
Yù / 14
玉 钰 煜 昱 郁 裕 喻 谕 毓 育 誉 寓 浴 芋
Xīn / 12
欣 鑫 馨 心 昕 新 歆 芯 薪 妡 忻 锌
Yuán / 12
源 媛 元 园 圆 缘 原 嫄 沅 湲 芫 袁
Líng / 11
玲 灵 凌 翎 绫 伶 羚 铃 龄 苓 陵
Xī / 11
希 熙 曦 溪 晞 惜 熹 兮 浠 晰 西
Hóng / 9
宏 红 弘 鸿 泓 虹 洪 闳 汯
Lì / 9
丽 莉 立 力 俐 利 俪 栎 栗
Zhēn / 9
珍 真 臻 蓁 祯 桢 榛 甄 贞
***3rd tone character that is pronounced as 2nd tone due to appearing before another 3rd tone character.
Syllables with the Most Unique Characters (w/o Tones)
List format:
Syllable / count
All corresponding characters
Yi / 45
一 怡 艺 奕 仪 依 逸 亦 伊 毅 宜 懿 翊 义 祎 易 翼 苡 忆 意 译 轶 颐 乙 以 熠 羿 亿 倚 薏 佚 佾 埸 壹 夷 屹 异 弋 怿 沂 洢 燚 翌 谊 铱
Yu / 33
宇 雨 玉 羽 钰 语 瑜 予 妤 煜 禹 昱 郁 俞 渝 裕 于 喻 瑀 谕 余 娱 愚 毓 育 誉 寓 愉 榆 浴 舆 芋 鱼
Qi / 20
琪 琦 奇 祺 绮 麒 启 淇 齐 棋 其 岐 崎 圻 期 柒 栖 祁 祈 骐
Wei / 20
伟 玮 威 维 薇 蔚 微 炜 唯 纬 葳 为 崴 巍 𬀩 苇 韦 卫 惟 未
Yan / 19
妍 言 燕 彦 艳 岩 延 谚 �� 琰 雁 晏 研 颜 砚 衍 严 炎 焱
Yuan / 16
源 媛 元 远 园 圆 渊 缘 原 嫄 愿 沅 湲 芫 苑 袁
Xi / 16
希 熙 曦 汐 溪 晞 玺 喜 惜 熹 兮 浠 习 晰 禧 西
Xiao / 15
小 笑 筱 孝 潇 篠 箫 肖 宵 效 枭 校 萧 霄
Yun / 15
云 芸 韵 昀 赟 允 匀 沄 筠 韫 妘 澐 蕰 蕴 运
Zhen / 15
振 珍 真 臻 蓁 祯 震 镇 朕 桢 榛 甄 贞 轸 圳
Two-Character Given Name Syllable Structures
This is the top 10 out of 14 (the bottom 4 were very rare).
List format:
Structure of given name 1st syllable, structure of given name 2nd syllable — example / count
Open, open — ex: Jiayi / 821
Open, closed-n — ex: Yijin / 701
Open, closed-ng — ex: Yijing / 468
Closed-n, open — ex: Jinyi / 450
Closed-ng, open — ex: Jingyi / 308
Closed-n, closed-n — ex: Jinyan / 206
Closed-ng, closed-n — ex: Jingyan / 157
Closed-n, closed-ng — ex: Jinyang / 141
Closed-ng, closed-ng — ex: Jingyang / 139
Open, closed-er — ex: Xue'er / 14
Full Name Syllable Structures for Two-Character Given Names
This is the top 29 out of 36 (the bottom 7 were very rare).
List format:
Structure of surname syllable, structure of given name 1st syllable, structure of given name 2nd syllable — example / count
Open, open, open— ex: Li Jiayi / 370
Open, open, closed-n— ex: Li Yijin / 336
Closed-ng, open, open— ex: Wang Jiayi / 273
Open, open, closed-ng— ex: Li Yijing / 228
Open, closed-n, open— ex: Li Jinyi / 225
Closed-ng, open, closed-n— ex: Wang Yijin / 223
Closed-n, open, open— ex: Chen Jiayi / 178
Closed-ng, closed-n, open— ex: Wang Jinyi / 165
Open, closed-ng, open— ex: Li Jingyi / 151
Closed-ng, open, closed-ng— ex: Wang Yijing / 146
Closed-n, open, closed-n— ex: Chen Yijin / 142
Open, closed-n, closed-n— ex: Li Jinyan / 104
Closed-ng, closed-ng, open— ex: Wang Jingyi / 97
Closed-n, open, closed-ng— ex: Chen Yijing / 94
Open, closed-ng, closed-n— ex: Li Jingyan / 86
Open, closed-ng, closed-ng— ex: Li Jingyang / 75
Open, closed-n, closed-ng— ex: Li Jinyang / 66
Closed-ng, closed-n, closed-n— ex: Wang Jinyan / 62
Closed-n, closed-n, open— ex: Chen Jinyi / 60
Closed-n, closed-ng, open— ex: Chen Jingyi / 60
Closed-ng, closed-n, closed-ng— ex: Wang Jinyang / 45
Closed-ng, closed-ng, closed-ng— ex: Wang Jingyang / 45
Closed-ng, closed-ng, closed-n— ex: Wang Jingyan / 43
Closed-n, closed-n, closed-n— ex: Chen Jinyan / 40
Closed-n, closed-n, closed-ng— ex: Chen Jinyang / 30
Closed-n, closed-ng, closed-n— ex: Chen Jingyan / 28
Closed-n, closed-ng, closed-ng— ex: Chen Jingyang / 19
Open, open, closed-er— ex: Li Xue'er / 8
Closed-ng, open, closed-er— ex: Wang Xue'er / 4
Extended List(s)
Full Name Tone Patterns for Two-Character Given Names
2nd, 4th, 2nd / 273
2nd, 1st, 2nd / 179
2nd, 3rd, 2nd / 179
2nd, 4th, 1st / 138
1st, 4th, 2nd / 135
2nd, 2nd, 2nd / 129
1st, 3rd, 2nd / 98
2nd, 3rd, 1st / 95
2nd, 1st, 4th / 92
1st, 1st, 2nd / 89
2nd, 1st, 1st / 88
2nd, 2nd, 1st / 84
3rd, 1st, 2nd / 83
3rd, 4th, 2nd / 81
1st, 2nd, 2nd / 73
4th, 4th, 2nd / 71
4th, 1st, 2nd / 70
1st, 4th, 1st / 69
2nd, 3rd, 4th / 68
2nd, 2nd, 3rd / 64
2nd, 1st, 3rd / 59
3rd, 2nd, 2nd / 59
2nd, 2nd, 4th / 56
4th, 3rd, 2nd / 56
2nd, 4th, 4th / 54
2nd, 4th, 3rd / 47
1st, 2nd, 4th / 43
4th, 2nd, 2nd / 43
1st, 1st, 3rd / 42
4th, 4th, 1st / 42
1st, 3rd, 1st / 41
3rd, 3rd, 2nd / 40
1st, 1st, 1st / 35
1st, 2nd, 1st / 35
1st, 2nd, 3rd / 35
1st, 1st, 4th / 34
4th, 1st, 1st / 34
3rd, 4th, 1st / 33
1st, 4th, 4th / 31
3rd, 2nd, 1st / 30
1st, 3rd, 4th / 29
4th, 2nd, 1st / 28
4th, 3rd, 1st / 28
3rd, 2nd, 4th / 27
3rd, 3rd, 1st / 27
3rd, 1st, 1st / 26
4th, 2nd, 4th / 26
1st, 4th, 3rd / 23
3rd, 1st, 4th / 23
3rd, 2nd, 3rd / 21
3rd, 4th, 4th / 20
4th, 1st, 4th / 20
4th, 1st, 3rd / 19
3rd, 4th, 3rd / 18
4th, 4th, 4th / 16
3rd, 1st, 3rd / 14
3rd, 3rd, 4th / 14
4th, 2nd, 3rd / 10
4th, 3rd, 4th / 9
4th, 4th, 3rd / 8
If you made it to the end, I am seriously impressed by your dedication. Thanks for checking out my nerdy ramblings about Chinese names! Don’t forget to check out my past posts on this topic for more. I hope they will help demystify Chinese names and make learning about Chinese names less intimidating.
A Closer Look at Chinese Names
Reading Chinese Names: Female Names
Reading Chinese Names: Male Names
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