12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

My Fridge Food – No idea what to make? Tell this site what ingredients you have on hand and it will give you recipes to cook.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite– New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen– Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye– An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV,My70sTV,My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors– Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden– Free open source password manager.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio– Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise– Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

It’s been such a crazy, busy, hectic summer that I just haven’t had the energy to update this, but there are so many thoughts shooting around in my head that I really should. Before I embark on my journey next Tuesday, I promise I will. Just wanted to say that I think about this awesome community of language learners a lot, and I can’t wait to get back into it (I’ve been so lazy!). 

grammar + ancient greek

Language-learning can be a hobby. If striving for perfect fluency is sucking the fun out of it, then fluency doesn’t need to be the goal

Review/Oбзор

как жаль - what a pity
ехидно - (adv) maliciously; mockingly, sarcastically
любопытный - (adj) curious, inquisitive; interesting
кстати - (adv.) by the way; to the point; as a matter of fact; apropos
посочувствовать - to sympathize (with)
сказанное - (n, decline as adj.) what has been said

New Words/Hовые Cлова

наиболее - (adv) the most, above all, most of all
ляп - (n) flub, slip-up
болтать - (v) (colloq.) to blabble, talk needlessly or endlessly; (colloq.) to converse; to dangle; to shake, rock, stir
толк - (n) sense, judgement; talk, rumor

посочувствовать - to sympathize (with)

or, I had this list of words I couldn’t categorize easily

Review/Oбзор

который - (pronoun) which, who, that
некоторый - (adj) some, certain
каждый - (adj) each, every
никто - (pronoun) nobody
любой - (determiner) any, either, whichever one wants
сам - (pronoun) myself, yourself

New Words/Hовые Cлова

там - (adv) there
тут - (adv) here, now, then
ничто - (pronoun) nothing
несколько - (pronoun) a few, several, some; (adv) somewhat, slightly, some

Resources I’m using right now to study Korean by myself (Sept. 2021)

Vocabulary

Korean Vocabulary by Evita (link)

(this link goes to her Anki page that you can download and import on your own anki to use it)

What I personally did was import it into my anki, export it as a txt. file and then pasted it on an excel file.
So in that way I have the list of all the vocabulary for a better self-control and I copy them in my memrise deck.
On excel I highlight in yellow the words I already know and in green the ones I don’t know and I need to add to my vocabulary deck.

This deck has over 5000 words so you will use it for a good while hahah.

Grammar

Talk to me in Korean (TTMIK) Lessons

I was using the Korean in Grammar In Use books (I finished the first one and I started the first chapter of the second one) and I highly recommend them but right now I’m really busy with college so I had to squish my time to study Korean. That’s why I decided to use the lessons TTMIK offers since they are short and I can do them faster.

Extra

Daily Routine in Korean by TTMIK

I finished this book a few days ago and it was really helpful now that I’m more advanced in my learning (I tried to use it when I just started and it was impossible for my brain to remember the phrases and make them make sense).

Resources made by me

Vocab deck (link)

This deck is made by me with all the resources I have used so far for vocabulary til now. The levels are divided in 1000 words each cause I think that helped better with my organization. If you decide to use it, I hope it can be helpful for you ^^

Hanja deck (link)

I made this one using the guide of Hanja made by How To Study Korean (link). It’s a great guide, and I recommend it if you are interested on learning some hanja.
My deck has 260 hanjas that I found the most useful and interesting. Right now I’m not studying hanja anymore cause I think the ones I learned are enough according to the level where I am now, and I wanna use that time to learn more things in Korean properly. That’s why, if you wanna learn them all I recommend you the guide made by How To Study Korean.

I hope this can be truly helpful for anyone who needs it.
I will try my harderst to post more often, specially lessons and vocabulary lists.
Thank you to everyone who follows the blog, I hope it can be useful to yall. And also thank you for everyone who follows me on Instagram (@/itslostfocus) where I post daily pics -not so daily, sorry I’ve busy- of my progress learning Korean.

Happy learning everyone! ^^

Hi guys, I’m back home and ready to start posting again! Before I do, I wanted to share a really exciting announcement. Whilst I was studying for the TOPIK exam, I landed a job as a Korean webtoon localisation editor!

I’m working for the Manta branch of RIDI Books, which is a platform that offers English versions of the webtoons available on the main platform. Since I’m working as a localisation editor, I review the copy that has both the Korean and literal translations, making sure that the English version sounds natural and delivers the same experience as the original Korean. Actually, when I was applying for the job, I mentioned the translation studies that I post on this blog. I think it was one of the things which made them interested in me, so thank you for supporting koreanstudy99 so far!

The story that I’m working on now is Sandwiched (샌드위치를 먹다), which I’m joining as the editor from episode 44! It’s available on the Manta app if you’d like to check it out. I’ll also be taking on new stories as I continue working with Manta. I’m really excited about this opportunity, especially since it gets me one step closer to working as an editor in Korea!

Thank you all for your support! Learning Korean with K-Dramas will continue as soon as I’ve worked through a few scenes. I’ll announce the new drama soon, so keep an eye out

Only two more days until the TOPIK test now and I’m absolutely terrified! I definitely don’t know as much as I’d like to, even though I studied so much. I wanted to share with you all some of the free resources that I’ve found really useful as I’ve been studying, and hopefully they can help you all if you ever decide to take the TOPIK exam!

Min’s Korean Language Class 
Min is a certified Korean teacher and her Youtube channel is dedicated to helping people through the TOPIK exams. I found her overviews of all the grammar for TOPIK 1andTOPIK 2 really useful and have been going over them non stop the past few days to make sure that I’m completely covered on the grammar side of the exam.

The TOPIK Guide’s Essential Grammar Notes
The TOPIK Guide provides a list similar to Min’s of all the 150 most important grammar forms to learn for the TOPIK exam. These are moreso for the TOPIK 2, as it covers intermediate and advanced grammar as well, which is unnecessary for the TOPIK 1. What’s really useful about this list is the ‘similar phrases’ column, as this helps to prepare you for the ‘closest meaning’ questions where you are asked to switch out grammar forms.

How To Study Korean
If you’re learning Korean then I’m sure that this site is quite familiar to you. It provides comprehensive guides on most of the grammar forms that are included in the TOPIK exams along with example sentences and audio to make it easier to understand.

Say Hi Korean
This site is less well known than How to Study Korean, but provides the same guidance on grammar forms. Many of the forms that aren’t included on How to Study Korean are available here.

Go! Billy Livestreams and Abridged Lives
Go! Billy is a youtuber who has been studying Korean since 2005 and has dedicated his time to helping other people learn. He has a range of informative videos on his channel, as well as his own textbooks, and a collaboration with Talk To Me In Korean. I find his livestreams really useful, as he makes learning fun and answers questions to make sure that everyone is following along. Patreon members get added perks like like lesson worksheets and priority grammar submissions.

Memrise
Memrise is kind of similar to quizlet but is made specifically for language learners. It has official courses for different languages at different levels, and you can make your own courses too if you prefer to study your own grammar. There are a few quizes that you can take including ‘learn new words’, ‘speed review’, and ‘classic review’, and you can track how many words are in your long term memory too. I really like the leaderboard feature, since it uses my competitiveness to encourage me to learn more.

TOPIK 1 Essential Vocab on Memrise
Technically this is probably copyrighted material, but onemillionlove has shared a list of the essential vocab for TOPIK 1 to learn on Memrise. This list is really useful to make sure that you have the vocabulary side of the exam covered. It only covers the first test, but there’s a useful resource for the TOPIK 2 vocab that I’ll share in my next post.

HiNative
This site is a discussion board where you can ask questions about your target language and get feedback or explanations from native speakers. They’ve changed the site so that some of the question types are restricted for paying users, but honestly I just put those questions awkwardly into the free question posts and I still get answers on them.

I’ve known about Forest as a browser extension, but I recently tried the app version and it’s so much better. You can plant a tree, set an amount of time and as long as you stay focused on your app your tree will grow. The app is really good because you can see your forest, change plants, get achievements, and they also have a new TinyTan feature for BTS fans. There’s also an option to plant a real tree. I’d really recommend getting the paid version of the app, since you can get access to more plants, but the free version is great as well. Side note, but my friend code is 4G84KCVSG if you want to add me on Forest!

There’s only one week until I take the TOPIK II exam and now that I’m almost done, I figured I would stop in, let you know that I haven’t died studying, and talk about how the process has been so far.

I’ll make a couple of posts including free resources and textbooks which I’ve personally found helpful, my feelings leading up to the exam, and finally a little bit on what happens when you actually take the TOPIK exam. If there’s anything that you’d like to know, drop me an ask, and don’t forget to request some dramas for when I start posting again!

The TOPIK exam that I’m doing takes place on the 9th, and from then I’ll be taking a break to visit London and Paris until the 22nd. I’ll resume posting Studying Korean with K-Drama posts from then, unless I decide that I can’t wait. I also have a few surprise announcements to make too! I’ve really missed posting my usual content and interacting with you guys. See you all soon 

I’ve mentioned Language Reactor on here before, which is a language learning chrome extension, but I’ve been introduced to another useful extension by a friend of mine which I’d also like to recommend.

It’s a feature called Toucan, which allows you to input the language that you’re learning and then as you browse, it changes random words on your webpage into your target language to help you discover new vocabulary. You can see it in your native language when you hover over the word and make lists or play games to improve your vocab skills. I’d definitely recommend it if you want an easy way to find new vocab!

시키다 

The verb 시키다 can be used to mean ‘order’ in the sense of ordering food or ordering something online, however it also has the double meaning of ordering someone to do something when it’s used as a grammatical form. When used as a grammar form, 시키다 is added onto the verb or adjective stem to indicate that someone is being forced to do that action.

Some common usages of 시키다 include:
❥이해시키다 - to make (someone) understand
❥연슴시키다 - to make (someone) practise
❥실망시키다 - to make (someone) disappointed / to disappoint someone
❥상기시키다 - to make (someone) recall / to remind someone

The teacher made the students study during the afterschool class.
선생님은 삭생들을 방과후 수업 시간 동안 공부시켰어요.

The fact that I am unemployed disappointed my mother.
제가 실업자라는 것이 저의 어머니를 실망시켰어요.

I worked hard so I satisfied my boss.
저는 열심히 일해서 부장님을 만족시켰어요.

Plain Form vs 시키다

Sometimes, due to translation errors, the meaning given to the plain form of a verb may make it seem as if 시키다 isn’t needed. For example, 감동하다 is often translated to ‘to impress someone’. You may then think that you can just use the standard 하다 form because the meaning already implies that you are making someone impressed. This is not the case, however, and there is no word which would negate 시키다 and make it useless. But then, how are they different?

Naver translates 감동하다 to ‘to be impressed’. In this instance, the action is happening to the speaker, changing the meaning from the above translation. Therefore, to say that you are making someone impressed, you can use 감동시키다 to essentially flip the verb and make it so that you are the one impressing someone else. Here are some examples:

I listened to my mother’s words and was very impressed.
저는 엄마의 말을 듣고 아주 감동했어요.

I made my mother impressed because I worked hard all day.
저는 하루 종일 열심히 일해서  엄마를 감동시켰어요.

Form Variations

Some other common variations of this form include:
❥ Verb root + 를/을 시키다
❥ Verb root + 하게 시키다 
❥ Verb + (으)라고 시키다

In the examples from the scene, the speaker uses the first variation. This has no different meaning to the original form of 시키다, but is just another way to say the same thing.

A Closer Look at Chinese Names

This post has been a long time coming. In spring 2020, I posted two of the most popular posts on this blog:

Reading Chinese Names: Female Names

Reading Chinese Names: Male Names

More recently I have wanted to revisit the idea behind those posts but with a different, more in-depth approach. I also made some decisions while compiling data for those posts that I now regret. So in late summer 2021, I set out to completely redo my data collection with the eventual goal of creating this very post.

About the Data

I will include more information about my data collection process at the end of this post for those interested.

I gathered 3,277 names (1602 male, 1675 female) from idol shows and groups. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of names at all. But I think it’s enough that we can explore names, observe some generalities, and have fun! These names belong to individuals roughly 15-30 years old. Most names belong to individuals from Mainland China, but there are some Hong Konger and Taiwanese names as well.

Some of the name sources include:

• 偶像练习生/青春有你
• 创造101/创造营
• 明日之子
• 以团之名/少年之名
• SNH48
• 快乐女声/快乐男声
• 菱格世代DD52
• Various groups like 时代少年 and SING女团

I also wanted to note something important: the definitions I am using (via MDBG) are only the surface. For example, a name containing a character meaning jade might also have implications of beauty and virtue. So the meaning is more than just “jade.” However, it just isn’t practical to go into all the nitty gritty here. I encourage you to seek out more resources if you are interested.

Some Thanks

Thanks so much to @liu-anhuaming,@meichenxi, and my friend Tiffany for their help and advice during the process of creating this post! 非常感谢你们，你们是最棒的！

Given Names (Overall)

First let’s look at the most common characters for ALL the given names in the dataset. There were 1093 total unique characters across all the given names. I’m going to include more characters (almost rounding out the top 100) at the bottom of this post for those interested. There is also some information broken down by gender below.

Top Given Name Characters

1. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 87
2. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 82
3. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 68
4. 雨 yǔ - rain / 63
5. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 59
6. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 58
7. 欣 xīn - happy / 55
8. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 51
9. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 51
10. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 49
11. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 49
12. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 48
13. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 45
14. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 44
15. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 43
16. 琪 qí - fine jade / 40
17. 婷 tíng - graceful / 39
18. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 38
19. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 35
20. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 35
21. 晨 chén - morning, dawn, daybreak / 34
22. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 33
23. 博 bó - extensive, ample, rich, obtain, aim, to win, to get, plentiful / 32
24. 慧 huì - intelligent / 32
25. 明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 32
26. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 32
27. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 32

Top Given Name Characters (Female)

1. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 56
2. 雨 yǔ - rain / 50
3. 欣 xīn - happy / 49
4. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 44
5. 婷 tíng - graceful / 39
6. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 37
7. 琪 qí - fine jade / 35
8. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 33
9. 慧 huì - intelligent / 31
10. 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 30

Top Given Name Characters (Male)

1. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 68
2. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 55
3. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 48
4. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 47
5. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 45
6. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 38
7. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 35
8. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 34
9. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 32
10. 明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 27

Single-Character Names (单名)

There were 668 single-character names, which is about 20% of the total names. I know that 单名 are pretty rare in Taiwan (I’m not sure about Hong Kong), so that’s something to keep in mind. More of the top 单名 are at the bottom of this post.

Top Single-Character Names

1. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 12
2. 欣 xīn - happy / 10
3. 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 9
4. 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
5. 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
6. 娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
7. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 6
8. 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
9. 昕 xīn - dawn / 6
10. 雪 xuě - snow / 6
11. 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 6

Female Single-Character Names

1. 欣 xīn - happy / 9
2. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 8
3. 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
4. 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
5. 娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
6. 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
7. 雪 xuě - snow / 6
8. 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 5
9. 洁 jié - clean / 5
10. 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 5

Male Single-Character Names

1. 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 7
2. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 5
3. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 5
4. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 4
5. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 4
6. 涛 tāo - big wave / 4 (Taiwan pr. táo)
7. 硕 shuò - large, big / 4
8. 磊 lěi - lumpy, rock pile, uneven, sincere, open and honest / 4
9. 立 lì - to stand, to set up, to establish, to lay down, to draw up, at once, immediately / 4
10. 耀 yào - brilliant, glorious / 4
11. 聪 cōng - wise, clever, sharp-witted, intelligent, acute, quick at hearing / 4
12. 超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 4
13. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 4
14. 鹏 péng - large fabulous bird / 4

Two-Character Names (双名)

For the lists below, I removed all 单名 and just looked at 双名 characters. One of the things I was most excited to examine in this post was what characters tend to be found in the first vs. second positions. As you will see reflected below, some common characters used in names tend to occur more in one position, like 子 which is more prevalent in the first position. Others are more balanced. I bolded characters appearing in both positions.

Additional top 双名 can be found at the end of this post.

Top Two-Character Names

1. 俊杰 jùnjié / 7
2. 佳怡 jiāyí / 5
3. 嘉欣 jiāxīn / 5
4. 天宇 tiānyǔ / 5
5. 浩然 hàorán / 5
6. 婷婷 tíngtíng / 4
7. 子杰 zǐjié / 4
8. 安琪 ānqí / 4

Top First Characters

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72
2. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49
3. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48
4. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 44
5. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40
6. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 40
7. 雨 yǔ - rain / 36
8. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 34
9. 宇 yǔ -room, universe / 34
10. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34

Top Second Characters

1. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 48
2. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45
3. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 41
4. 琪 qí - fine jade / 34
5. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 32
6. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 30
7. 婷 tíng - graceful / 29
8. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 27
9. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 26
10. 欣 xīn - happy / 23
11. 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 23
12. 雨 yǔ - rain / 23

Female First Characters

1. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 38
2. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 31
3. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 29
4. 雨 yǔ - rain / 27
5. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 26
6. 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 24
7. 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 22
8. 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 20
9. 欣 xīn - happy / 19
10. 雅 yǎ - elegant / 19

Female Second Characters

1. 琪 qí - fine jade / 30
2. 婷 tíng - graceful / 29
3. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 29
4. 欣 xīn - happy / 21
5. 雨 yǔ - rain / 21
6. 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 19
7. 慧 huì - intelligent / 18
8. 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 18
9. 瑶 yáo - jade, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, nacre, precious / 17
10. 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 16

Male First Characters

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 54
2. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 35
3. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 26
4. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 24
5. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 22
6. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 20
7. 明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 20
8. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 19
9. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 18
10. 柏 bó - cedar, cypress / 17

Male Second Characters

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45
2. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 44
3. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 40
4. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 21
5. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 20
6. 翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 19
7. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 17
8. 霖 lín - continued rain / 17
9. 铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 15
10. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 14
11. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 14
12. 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 14

Comparing Characters by Position

After examining the most popular characters by position, I was curious to look more specifically at which characters appear in one position but not the other. In this section I decided not to include lists separated by gender because it was getting to be too much information.

Exclusively First Characters

Below are the top characters that never appeared in the second position.

1. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34
2. 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24
3. 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16
4. 美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15
5. 若 ruò - to seem, like, as if / 14
6. 智 zhì - wisdom, knowledge / 13
7. 书 shū - book, letter, document, to write / 11
8. 婉 wǎn - graceful, tactful / 11
9. 振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 11
10. 永 yǒng - forever, always, perpetual / 11
11. 秋 qiū - autumn, fall, harvest time / 11

Largest Deltas (First Position)

I also wanted to see characters that were found in both positions but for which there was a big difference in occurrence. I bolded characters that appeared both here and in the list above.

The math is formatted:
# times first position - # times second position = difference

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72 - 10 = 62
2. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 44 - 4 = 40
3. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49 - 10 = 39
4. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34 - 0 = 34
5. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48 - 15 = 33
6. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40 - 9 = 31
7. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 40 - 9 = 31
8. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 34 - 7 = 27
9. 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24 - 0 = 24
10. 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 24 - 2 = 22

Exclusively Second Characters

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45
2. 霖 lín - continued rain / 22
3. 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 20
4. 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 17
5. 仪 yí - apparatus, rites, appearance, present, ceremony / 14
6. 航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 13
7. 晴 qíng - clear, fine (weather) / 12
8. 萱 xuān - orange day-lily / 12
9. 帆 fān - sail, to gallop / 11 (Taiwan pr. fán)
10. 璇 xuán - jade / 9

Largest Deltas (Second Position)

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45 - 0 = 45
2. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 41 - 3 = 38
3. 琪 qí - fine jade / 34 - 2 = 32
4. 婷 tíng - graceful / 29 - 6 = 23
5. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 26 - 3 = 23
6. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 27 - 5 = 22
7. 霖 lín - continued rain / 22 - 0 = 22
8. 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 23 - 2 = 21
9. 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 20 - 0 = 20
10. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 30 - 13 = 17
11. 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 22 - 5 = 17
12. 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 17 - 0 = 17

Gender Associations of Characters

This section is more experimental and exploratory. There are probably better ways to examine the gender association for characters, but I just wanted to take a quick look for fun, not develop a whole new analysis technique.

Gender Neutral Characters

Here I simply took the average of the ranks of each character for male names and female names. If a character was only found in male names or only found in female names, it would just end up with the overall rank of N/A.

The math is formatted:
(Female names rank + male names rank) ÷ 2 = average rank

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point
   (12th + 2nd) ÷ 2 = 7th (82 times)
2. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend
   (6th + 18th) ÷ 2 = 12th (59 times)
3. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle
   (15th + 9th) ÷ 2 = 12th (58 times)
4. 宇 yǔ - room, universe
   (30th + 1st) ÷ 2 = 15.5th (87 times)
5. 思 sī - to think, to consider
   (8th + 29th) ÷ 2 = 18.5th (49 times)
6. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout
   (34th + 8th) ÷ 2 = 21st (51 times)
7. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven
   (31st + 12th) ÷ 2 = 21.5th (44 times)
8. 雨 yǔ - rain
   (2nd + 45th) ÷ 2 = 23.5th (63 times)
9. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good
   (1st + 47th) ÷ 2 = 24th (68 times)
10. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness
    (37th + 30th) ÷ 2 = 33.5th (33 times)

Female-Leaning Characters

For this section, I looked at characters in female names that did not appear in male names. This isn’t a perfect technique, but I think it is still interesting to see the results.

1. 婷 tíng - graceful / 5th (39 times)
2. 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 16th (26 times)
3. 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 18th (23 times)
4. 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 28th (20 times)
5. 丽 lì - beautiful / 29th (19 times)
6. 依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 35th (17 times)
7. 妍 yán - beautiful / 36th (17 times)
8. 媛 yuán - beautiful / 40th (16 times)
9. 月 yuè - moon, month / 41st (16 times)
10. 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 43rd (16 times)

Male-Leaning Characters

Likewise, for this section I chose characters that appeared in male names but not female names. I actually know women with 龙 and 伟 in their names, so it’s important to remember that leaning male =/= only found in men’s names. There are always exceptions!

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 3rd (48 times)
2. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 7th (35 times)
3. 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 28th (17 times)
4. 伟 wěi - big, large, great / 36th (14 times)
5. 峻 jùn - (of mountains) high, harsh or severe / 38th (13 times)
6. 耀 yào - brilliant, glorious / 42nd (13 times)
7. 钧 jūn - 30 catties, great, your (honorific) / 44th (13 times)
8. 成 chéng - to succeed, to finish, to complete, to accomplish, to become, to turn into, to be all right, one tenth / 48th (12 times)
9. 振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 53rd (11 times)
10. 飞 fēi - to fly / 54th (11 times)

While looking at gender was fun, in the future I’d really like to look at tones/tone combinations, open vs. close syllables, and more. I’m still thinking about the best way to do this.

Surnames

Since surname rankings are actually known, I thought it would be interesting to briefly compare my dataset to the true populations.

Top Surnames

1. 李 Lǐ / 240
2. 王 Wáng / 206
3. 张 Zhāng / 186
4. 陈 Chén / 173
5. 刘 Liú / 147
6. 杨 Yáng / 94
7. 林 Lín / 91
8. 黄 Huáng / 88
9. 周 Zhōu / 69
10. 徐 Xú / 66

Mainland Top Surnames

1. 李 Lǐ
2. 王 Wáng
3. 张 Zhāng
4. 刘 Liú
5. 陈 Chén
6. 杨 Yáng
7. 赵 Zhào
8. 黄 Huáng
9. 周 Zhōu
10. 吴 Wú

Taiwan Top Surnames

1. 陈 Chén
2. 林 Lín
3. 黄 Huáng
4. 张 Zhāng
5. 李 Lǐ
6. 王 Wáng
7. 吴 Wú
8. 刘 Liú
9. 蔡 Cài
10. 杨 Yáng

What stood out to me most was 林 making #7 on my list. I suspect this is due to the inclusion of Taiwanese names. In Mainland China it actually ranks around #16 I believe. 赵 didn’t make the top 10, but I think it was actually #11, so that’s not too far off.

About the Data Cont’

For my original posts 1.5 years ago, I had difficulty maintaining a gender balance and decided to add male names from other types of sources as a supplement. I have since regretted that choice, so this time I worked hard to maintain balance without using unrelated sources. One result of this is that there are names in the original dataset that do not appear in this dataset, so even though the new dataset has more names, it’s possible that there could be fewer occurrences of some characters.

I did my best to remove duplicate individuals (not duplicate names!) and remove stage names that do not sound like real names (or replace them with real names). However, I did not try to swap out all stage names for birth names because that would have been too difficult and time consuming. I also made the assumption that any four-character name could be segmented into two surname characters and two given name characters.

It’s important to note that these names are not necessarily representative of the 15-30 population as a whole. Idols or trainees might change their names to something sounding more cool or hip, and like I mentioned, it simply wasn’t feasible for me to find everyone’s birth name. And my data collection didn’t take into account things like geography/population spread or keep track of ages (but I did for the most part avoid any shows older than 5 years and groups with members 30+).

Extended Lists

Top Given Name Characters

28 星 xīng - star, heavenly body / 31
29 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 31
30 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 29
31 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 29
32 艺 yì - skill, art / 29
33 雅 yǎ - elegant / 29
34 雪 xuě - snow / 29
35 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 28
36 翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 27
37 霖 lín - continued rain / 27
38 哲 zhé - wise, a sage / 26
39 梓 zǐ - Catalpa kaempferi (type of tree), printing blocks / 26
40 羽 yǔ - feather, 5th note in pentatonic scale / 26
41 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 26
42 凯 kǎi - triumphant, victorious / 25
43 家 jiā - home, family / 24
44 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24
45 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 24
46 铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 24
47 奕 yì - abundant, graceful / 23
48 柏 bó - cedar, cypress / 23
49 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 23
50 馨 xīn - fragrant / 23
51 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 22
52 安 ān - content, calm, still, quiet, safe, secure, in good health, to pacify, to harbor (good intentions), security, safety, peace / 22
53 洁 jié - clean / 22
54 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 22
55 瑶 yáo - jade, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, nacre, precious / 22
56 心 xīn - heart, mind, intention, center, core / 21
57 扬 yáng - to raise, to hoist, scattering (in the wind), to flutter / 21
58 玉 yù - jade / 21
59 阳 yáng - sun, male principle / 21
60 源 yuán - root, source, origin / 20
61 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 20
62 瑞 ruì - lucky, auspicious, propitious, rayl / 20
63 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 20
64 丽 lì - beautiful / 19
65 宁 níng - peaceful, to pacify / 19
66 语 yǔ - dialect, language, speech / 19
67 云 yún - cloud / 18
68 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 18
69 琳 lín - gem / 18
70 睿 ruì - astute, perspicacious, farsighted / 18
71 菲 fēi - luxuriant (plant growth), rich with fragrance / 18
72 辉 huī - splendor, to shine upon / 18
73 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 18
74 依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 17
75 妍 yán - beautiful / 17
76 希 xī - to hope, to admire / 17
77 昊 hào - vast and limitless, the vast sky / 17
78 超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 17
79 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 17
80 东 dōng - east , host / 16
81 凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the mortal world, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 16
82 媛 yuán - beautiful / 16
83 宏 hóng - great, magnificent / 16
84 志 zhì - aspiration, ambition, the will / 16
85 昕 xīn - dawn / 16
86 月 yuè - moon, month / 16
87 瑜 yú - excellence, luster of gems / 16
88 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16
89 航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 16
90 钰 yù - treasure, hard metal / 16
91 雯 wén - multicolored clouds / 16
92 元 yuán - currency unit, first, original, primary, fundamental, constituent, part, era / 15
93 廷 tíng - palace courtyard / 15
94 承 chéng - to bear, to carry, to hold, to continue, to undertake, to take charge, owing to, due to, to receive / 15
95 晴 qíng - clear, fine (weather) / 15
96 美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15
97 言 yán - words, speech, to say, to talk / 15
98 逸 yì - to escape, leisurely, outstanding / 15

Top Single-Character Names

12 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 5
13 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 5
14 凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the mortal world, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 5
15 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 5
16 帅 shuài - handsome, graceful, smart, commander in chief / 5
17 悦 yuè - pleased / 5
18 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 5
19 洁 jié - clean / 5
20 聪 cōng - wise, clever, sharp-witted, intelligent, acute, quick at hearing / 5
21 萌 méng - to sprout, to bud / 5
22 霖 lín - continued rain / 5

Top Two-Character Names

9 丽娜 lìnà / 3
10 丹妮 dānnī / 3
11 佳慧 jiāhuì / 3
12 佳欣 jiāxīn / 3
13 依依 yīyī / 3
14 俊毅 jùnyì / 3
15 博文 bówén / 3
16 嘉宝 jiābǎo / 3
17 嘉怡 jiāyí / 3
18 媛媛 yuányuán / 3
19 子铭 zǐmíng / 3
20 子龙 zǐlóng / 3
21 家豪 jiāháo / 3
22 心怡 xīnyí / 3
23 心雨 xīnyǔ / 3
24 思佳 sījiā / 3
25 思雨 sīyǔ / 3
26 晨曦 chénxī / 3
27 梓豪 zǐháo / 3
28 梦瑶 mèngyáo / 3
29 欣妤 xīnyú / 3
30 浩宇 hàoyǔ / 3
31 美琪 měiqí /3
32 诗琪 shīqí / 3
33 雨晴 yǔqíng / 3
34 雨航 yǔháng / 3
35 雪莹 xuěyíng / 3
36 静怡 jìngyí / 3

Well, if you made it to the end, congratulations! You are a brave soul. But seriously, thanks so much for reading all of this monster of a post. I hope you leave knowing at least a bit more about Chinese names.

I remembering seeing this music video pop up in my recommendations on YouTube back in middle school. It was everywhere, but I don’t think I ever clicked on it! A song called “Rainie Love” just didn’t appeal to me. Finally this year after seeing Rainie Yang on 乘风破浪的姐姐2 and seeing Li Ronghao (her husband) on 青春有你3, I thought I should listen to this iconic song. I was pleasantly surprised—the song isn’t groundbreaking or anything, but it has more umph to it than a plain piano ballad. Seems like it would be fun for a karaoke night too.

杨丞琳 (Rainie Yang) - 雨爱

窗外的天气 就像是你多变的表情
下雨了 雨陪我哭泣
看不清 我也不想看清

多变 duōbiàn - fickle / frequently-changing

离开你 我安静的抽离
不忍揭晓的剧情
我的泪流在心里 学会放弃

抽离 chōulí - to remove / to step back from involvement / to disengage
不忍 bùrěn - cannot bear to / disturbed
揭晓 jiēxiǎo - to announce publicly / to publish / to make known / to disclose
剧情 jùqíng - storyline / plot / drama (genre)

听雨的声音 一滴滴清晰
你的呼吸像雨滴渗入我的爱里
真希望雨能下不停
让想念继续 让爱变透明
我爱上给我勇气的 Rainie Love

清晰 qīngxī - clear / distinct
渗入 shènrù - to permeate

窗外的雨滴 一滴滴累积
屋内的湿气像储存爱你的记忆
真希望雨能下不停
雨爱的秘密 能一直延续
我相信我将会看到彩虹的美丽

累积 lěijī - to accumulate
湿气 shīqì - moisture / humidity
储存 chǔcún | chúcún - stockpile / to store / to stockpile / storage

冷冷的空气 很窒息我无法呼吸
一万颗 雨滴的距离
很彻底 让爱消失无息

窒息 zhìxī | zhìxí - to choke / to stifle / to suffocate
无息 wúxī | wúxí - uninterrupted / continuous / without a sound

离开你 我安静的抽离
不忍揭晓的剧情
我的泪流在心里 学会放弃

听雨的声音 一滴滴清晰
你的呼吸像雨滴渗入我的爱里
真希望雨能下不停
让想念继续 让爱变透明
我爱上给我勇气的 Rainie Love

窗外的雨滴 一滴滴累积
屋内的湿气像储存爱你的记忆
真希望雨能下不停
雨爱的秘密 能一直延续
我相信我将会看到彩虹的美丽

屋内的湿气像储存爱你的记忆
真希望雨能下不停
雨爱的秘密 能一直延续
我相信我将会看到彩虹的美丽

In your Chinese studies you’ve probably learned: 红色、橙色、黄色、绿色、蓝色、紫色、灰色、白色、黑色、咖啡色、粉红色

But there are so many beautiful colors out there! Let’s learn some more. These are color terms I’ve come across outside Chinese class.

In general you can indicate a light shade with 浅 and a dark shade with 深. I have also seen 墨 for dark and 淡 for light, but when I Googled various color terms, there were more results for 浅 and 深 than 淡 and 墨.

I spent way too much time messing with HTML to color the text to match (except for the shades of white).

• 褐色 hèsè - brown
• 橘黄色 júhuángsè - orange
• 奶油色 nǎiyóusè - cream
• 金黄色 jīnhuángsè - gold color
• 朱红色 zhūhóngsè - vermilion
• 米色 mǐsè - beige
• 棕色 zōngsè - brown
• 青色 qīngsè - cyan / blue-green
• 灰白 huībái - light gray / ash-colored
• 蔚蓝 wèilán - azure / sky blue
• 纯白 chúnbái - pure white
• 雪白 xuěbái - snow white
• 洁白 jiébái - spotlessly white / pure white
• 漆黑 qīhēi - pitch-black
• 铜色 tóngsè - copper
• 乌黑 wūhēi - jet-black / dark
• 靛色 diànsè - indigo (color)
• 金色 jīnsè - golden / gold (color)
• 银色 yínsè - silver (color)

Here are some single characters I’ve seen as well. Some of these are commonly used in names, like 彤 and 丹.

• 彤 tóng - red
• 丹 dān - red / pellet / powder / cinnabar
• 缇 tí - orange-red silk / orange-red colored
• 赤 chì - red / scarlet / bare / naked
• 碧 bì - green jade / bluish green / blue / jade
• 翠 cuì - bluish-green / green jade
• 皓 hào - bright / luminous / white (esp. bright white teeth of youth or white hair of old age)
• 颢 hào - bright / white
• 玄 xuán - black / mysterious

彤, 丹, and 缇 are all described as a red-orange color. I’m not really sure of the difference, so I just made them all the same shade. I’m also unclear on exact distinction between 褐色 and 棕色. Image search results certainly suggest that they are used differently. Not sure how 咖啡色 fits in either.

I stumbled across this giant Wikipedia table with many beautiful colors that you can check out to learn more!

Eason Chan is an iconic Hong Kong singer with many Cantopop and Mandopop albums. I first heard this song on Youth With You 3 when it was covered in the first performance round. Honestly I didn’t think their cover was that good…but I could tell instantly that I would like the original version of the song. I guess that says a lot about the quality of this song! It’s a rock song that starts somber and slow but then quickly builds. Sadly this song isn’t on US Spotify (there are covers though, as well as another great Eason Chan song with a title that has a similar vibe 《陪你度过漫长岁月》). Really the only flaw is that it’s a short song at only a bit over 3 minutes, so I’m always left wishing it were longer!

陈奕迅 (Eason Chan) - 让我留在你身边

我从来不说话
因为我害怕 没有人回答
我从来不挣扎
因为我知道 这世界太大

挣扎 zhēngzhá - to struggle

太多时间浪费 太多事要面对 太多已无所谓
太多难辨真伪太多纷扰是非在你身边是谁

辨 biàn - to distinguish / to recognize
真伪 zhēnwěi - true or bogus / authenticity
纷扰 fēnrǎo - turmoil / unrest / disturbance
是非 shìfēi - right and wrong / quarrel

最渺小的我 有大大的梦
时间向前走 一定只有路口没有尽头
纷纷扰扰这个世界 所有的了解
只要 让我留在你身边

渺小 miǎoxiǎo - minute / tiny / negligible / insignificant

最渺小的我 有大大的梦
我愿意安静的活在每个有你的角落
如果生活还有什么 会让你难过
别怕 让我留在你身边 都陪你度过

度过 dùguò - to pass / to spend (time) / to survive / to get through

最渺小的我 最卑微的梦
我发现这世界没有那么那么的不同
现实如果对你不公别计较太多
走吧暴风雨后的彩虹

卑微 bēiwēi - lowly / humble
不公 bùgōng - unjust / unfair
计较 jìjiào - to bother about / to haggle / to bicker / to argue / plan / stratagem
暴风雨 bàofēngyǔ - rainstorm / storm / tempest

也许会落空也许会普通
也许这庸庸碌碌的黑白世界你不懂
生命中所有的路口 绝不是尽头
别怕 让我留在你身边 都陪你度过

落空 luòkōng - to fail / to fall through / to come to nothing
庸庸碌碌 yōngyōnglùlù - ordinary / mediocre

Rare and Common Chinese Syllables

Recently I was doing a little light research on the rarest syllables in Chinese.* I discovered that I didn’t know any characters for some of the rare syllables I found, so I started wondering what syllables are the most common and the rarest in my vocabulary. I decided to undertake the unnecessary task of chronicling how many characters I know for each possible Chinese syllable.**

There are apparently 400+ possible Chinese syllables, and I only have so much time, so I’m sure I missed a character that I know here or there. However, the top 5 most common syllables (which I’m showing below) had a substantial lead over #6, so I’m fairly confident they are my true top 5. And for all the syllables presented below, I checked MDBG to confirm I wasn’t forgetting any characters.

*Rare in this case meaning how many characters exist for a syllable, not how often a syllable is used in the language. The latter would be an interesting but very different question. Also, I’m not taking into account tones here, and I am only considering simplified characters.

**I don’t have a perfect definition for what characters I “know.” I basically tried to include only characters I’m fairly confident I can write. There are definitely more characters out there that I recognize, but I didn’t want to include any that I believe I can’t read correctly out of context. I was a little more liberal for the rare category though.

Most Common

1）ji：几、给、极、寄、及、记、级、集、机、季、计、基、鸡、即、吉、击、纪、积、继、济、急、技、际、挤、激、辑、既、绩、肌、疾、己、忌、迹、寂、棘、圾、讥（37）

2）yi：一、以、亿、亦、翼、已、遗、易、义、艺、仪、异、依、议、益、医、意、译、奕、伊、疫、忆、宜、衣、移、逸、毅、怡、谊、疑、姨、椅、裔、邑、抑（35）

3）yu：鱼、与、玉、愈、于、语、预、余、雨、宇、予、域、遇、育、豫、钰、寓、昱、煜、喻、欲、狱、羽、裕、郁、虞、娱、妤、瑜、誉、浴、吁、愚、俞（34）

4）shi：是、十、试、使、诗、拾、时、市、师、室、适、式、实、事、视、石、势、史、识、世、狮、食、士、释、始、施、氏、示、失、湿、饰、逝、嗜（33）

5）qi：七、骑、器、起、期、其、企、气、奇、齐、启、弃、琦、淇、柒、棋、旗、绮、妻、契、麒、琪、汽、岂、歧、祺、戚、欺、祈、乞、泣、凄（32）

I was not surprised to see yi, ji, qi, and shi make the top 5. That lion-poet-rock verse exists for a reason, and I feel like yi, ji, and qi are just everywhere. Yu was a bit of a surprise, but it makes sense since I like to research Chinese names, and a lot of the characters I listed for yu are used in names.

Rarest

For the sake of brevity, I’m only showing 25 syllables max for each category. There were simply too many for me to list them all.

First are syllables for which I only know 2 characters:

1. ang：昂、肮
2. cang：藏、苍
3. ceng：曾、层
4. gen：跟、根
5. geng：更、庚
6. gun：滚、棍
7. hei：黑、嘿
8. ken：肯、恳
9. kuan：款、宽
10. niang：娘、酿
11. pen：喷、盆
12. qun：群、裙
13. re：热、惹
14. reng：仍、扔
15. rou：肉、柔
16. ruan：阮、软
17. ruo：若、弱
18. sai：赛、塞
19. shua：刷、耍
20. sun：孙、损
21. te：特、忑
22. wai：外、歪
23. zhua：抓、爪
24. zhui：追、坠
25. zun：尊、遵

Next are syllables for which I only know 1 character:

1. ca：擦
2. cen：岑
3. dei：得
4. diu：丢
5. fo：佛
6. fou：否
7. gei：给
8. luan：乱
9. lve：略
10. nen：嫩
11. neng：能
12. nin：您
13. nuan：暖
14. nv：女
15. nve：虐
16. qia：恰
17. ri：日
18. run：润
19. sen：森
20. shei：谁
21. shuan：拴
22. tuan：团
23. weng：翁
24. zen：怎
25. zhuai：拽

What I find really interesting is how some of the syllables above are ones I encounter all the time while others are ones I only even heard relatively recently. For instance, I was a bit surprised that I only know one character each for luan and nv. I guess since 乱 and 女 are very commonplace, I feel like those syllables are everywhere, and it never occurred to me that I only know one luan and one nv character. But I remember furrowing my brow when I first learned 拴 and 虐. They feel unnatural to say honestly! I have to think about it for a sec.

Lastly, here are syllables for which I didn’t know any characters.

1. chua
2. chuai
3. chuo
4. cou
5. cuan
6. den
7. dia
8. ei
9. kei
10. keng
11. nou
12. pou
13. seng
14. zei
15. zuan

Some of these definitely elicited a “what? This is a legit Chinese syllable?” reaction from me. When I think about it more carefully, it makes sense that some, like chuo, exist. After all, I encounter zhuo and shuo all the time. But since I’ve never heard chuo, I guess it surprises me! Zei and dia strike me as the most unusual. Were you surprised by any of the syllables on this list?

If you’re interested in learning about the rarest syllables in general (not for me specifically), here’s some of the stuff I read:

The Rarest Mandarin Syllables

Unusual Mandarin syllables

Learning Chinese with Lyrics: 李荣浩 - 戒烟

I’ve decided that at least for a couple months I’ll increasing my Learning Chinese with Lyrics posts to twice a month. I know they aren’t usually as popular, but I have a backlog of songs/lyrics to share!

As I mentioned in my recent Mandopop recs post, I’ve been listening to Li Ronghao lately. This song in particular has been stuck in my head a lot. I find the lyrics to be very moving and poignant. A sense of loss truly comes through. And thankfully, the lyrics are also relatively simple, so it’s easy to learn them. This song is nearly 5 minutes long, but it doesn’t feel too long or dragged out to me at all. To my knowledge, this song isn’t Li Ronghao’s biggest hit (that honor seems to go to 年少有为), but it’s still pretty popular. And my favorite by him right now.

李荣浩 - 戒烟

已经为了变的更好 去掉锋芒
一不小心成了你的 倾诉对象
电话约在从前约会的地方
要陪你唱歌吃饭我结账
保持优良习惯

锋芒 fēngmáng - tip (of pencil, spear etc) / sharp point / cutting edge / spearhead / vanguard
倾诉 qīngsù - to say everything (that is on one’s mind)
结账 jiézhàng - to pay the bill / to settle accounts *also written 结帐
优良 yōuliáng - fine / good / first-rate

你说最近过的还算 幸福美满
喝了几杯唱了几段 你却哭了
想去安慰却不知什么立场
听你说话看你哭湿头发
我得到了惩罚

立场 lìchǎng - position / standpoint
惩罚 chéngfá - penalty / punishment / to punish

戒了烟我不习惯 没有你我怎么办
三年零一个礼拜 才学会怎么忍耐
你给过我的伤害 是没有一句责怪
戒了烟 染上悲伤 我也不想

忍耐 rěnnài - to endure / to bear with / to exercise patience / to restrain oneself / patience / endurance
戒烟 jièyān - to give up smoking
染上 rǎnshàng - to catch (a disease) / to get (a bad habit)

你说最近过的还算 幸福美满
喝了几杯唱了几段 你却哭了
想去安慰却不知什么立场
听你说话看你哭湿头发
我得到了惩罚

戒了烟我不习惯 没有你我怎么办
三年零一个礼拜 才学会怎么忍耐
你给过我的伤害 是没有一句责怪
戒了烟 染上悲伤 我也不想
我也不想
谁也不想

戒了烟我不习惯 没有你我怎么办
三年零一个礼拜 才学会怎么忍耐
你给过我的伤害 是没有一句责怪
戒了烟 染上悲伤 我也不想

Some of my past posts about Chinese names seem to have become popular among people in the writing community (writeblr???) as references. I’m very happy that people are interested in learning about Chinese names to name their original characters! However, I’m sure some people are also interested in creating characters of the Chinese diaspora. The diaspora is HUGE, but I wanted to shed some light on Chinese American names.

Disclaimer: I am just one Chinese American drawing on the stories of my family, friends, and classmates. This can’t certainly represent all Chinese Americans, so keep that in mind. My focus is primarily on people born and/or raised in the US as opposed to adult immigrants. I imagine a lot of this post also applies to Chinese Canadians, Chinese Australians, etc.

Name Formats

Our lovely “model” for today will be the fictional character of Jane/Jiayi Wang (王佳怡). Here are some basic name structures I’ve encountered throughout my life:

• Jane Jiayi Wang
  One very typical name format would be Western first name, Chinese middle name, last name. I don’t have any actual data on it, but if you told me that this format was the most common for US-born Chinese Americans, I would believe you. Today, it feels like I’m seeing more and more people use their Chinese middle names alongside their Western first names professionally or on social media.
• Jiayi Wang
  Some Chinese Americans do not have a Western-style name. This could be the case for someone born in the US or someone who immigrated. Often people with this name format may go by a Western name like Jane even if it’s not part of their legal name. They could also go by an abbreviation of their Chinese name or a nickname derived from their Chinese name.
• Jane Wang / Jane Amelia Wang
  Not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name as part of their legal name. Some might have Western first and middle names. Someone without a Chinese name as part of their legal name might still have a Chinese name that just isn’t “official,” or they might not have a Chinese name at all.
• Jiayi Jane Wang
  I don’t think this name format is as common as the ones above. I’ve definitely seen people who immigrated as adults use this format, maybe if they adopted a Western name for convenience but still want to use their native name. However, the name they go by may not reflect their legal name.
• Jane Li-Wang / Jane Li Wang
  These examples (which are rarer in my experience) incorporate both parents’ surnames, one by hyphenating and the other by making one parent’s surname the middle name. I’ve read that recently in China, a growing number of parents (but still a small number) are passing on both surnames (like 李王佳怡).
  

While I don’t personally know many people who fit this description, sometimes parents will select Chinese and Western names that are similar. This could be a loose similarity like Jane/Jiayi or a closer similarity like Lynn/Lin(g). Take for example the pair Eileen/Ailing, as in Eileen Chang (张爱玲) or Eileen Gu (谷爱凌). Another example of a close match is Wilber Pan/Pan Weibo (潘玮柏).

Another option is a Chinese name as a first name that was picked to be easy for English speakers to pronounce. Names like Ming or Kai are short and easy to pronounce.

More on Chinese Names

• As I said, not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name. For some, this might not be a big deal, but for others, it could be a sensitive issue.
• Some have a Chinese name but may not know how it’s written, what it means, etc. A lot of Chinese Americans are mostly illiterate in Chinese and may not feel very comfortable speaking the language either. In my experience, it’s not uncommon for Chinese Americans to only be able to write their Chinese name and nothing else. There’s literally a whole song about this phenomenon.
• Sometimes one may not know their Chinese name at all. Some Chinese Americans rarely if ever use their Chinese name. They may even feel little or no connection to the name. If their parents were born in the US or immigrated at a young age, it’s likely the Chinese name was given by grandparents. In this situation, it’s possible the parents don’t know the Chinese name of their child either.
• Some Chinese Americans are interested in reclaiming their Chinese name. I’ve seen people add their Chinese names to their social media or even consider switching to going by their Chinese name.
• Others don’t like being made to feel like a Western name such as Jane isn’t their real name (perpetual foreigner stereotype, anyone?). Acting like Jane isn’t someone’s “real name” and you must uncover their “more authentic” Chinese name is very icky. Jane and Jiayi are both real and valid. 

Important: Due to some of the reasons above (and probably others) some Chinese Americans may not like it when others ask them about their Chinese names. It may be something very personal that they prefer to keep private, something they feel no connection to, something they don’t have in the first place, etc.

Also, someone isn’t turning their back on their heritage because they prefer going by Jane over Jiayi. While it’s true that some people feel pressured into going by a Western name that’s easier for others to pronounce (and this SUCKS), no one should be forced to go by their Chinese name if they don’t want to. People should respect and learn to pronounce others’ names, but as I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter, some people would rather go by Jane than have to hear Jiayi butchered day after day. So always respect personal choice and don’t pressure others to adopt a Western name or go by their Chinese name against their will.

Adopting Mispronunciations: Liu, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, etc.

I know Chinese Americans who pronounce their names or surnames “incorrectly” to conform with American English pronunciations of these names. For example, take Bowen Yang (杨伯文) or Lucy Liu (刘). I’ve also observed bearers of common surnames Wang, Zhang, and Zhao going by the Americanized pronunciations of their surnames. 

Sometimes this can be a little confusing because I’m honestly not sure if I should pronounce their name the Americanized way or the native Chinese way. For instance, I had a classmate who reluctantly pronounced her surname Liu more like Lu but wished people would say it more accurately. But I also had another classmate with the last name Wang who didn’t seem to care about the pronunciation.

Romanization

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that Chinese American names are diverse when it comes to romanization system used. First of all, there are many Chinese languages. Secondly, you have people immigrating from different countries with different romanization standards. Additionally, practices change over time, so people whose ancestors immigrated decades ago might have a name that uses a romanization system no longer in use. I’m sure there are even people whose full names contain traces of multiple romanization systems.

After writing most of this post, I came across an interesting piece by Emma Woo Louie, Name Styles and Structure of Chinese American Personal Names. (She also has a whole website about Chinese American surnames!) The article is almost 30 years old, but it was an interesting read and still relevant today. It includes a discussion on the different ways to write two-syllable names.

• Separated by a space
• With a hyphen between
• No separation

For our example Jane Wang, you might expect to see:

• Jane Chiayi Wang
• Jane Chia Yi Wang
• Jane Chia-yi Wang
• Jane Chia-Yi Wang

I used Wade-Giles style romanization above because that’s what I typically see used alongside hyphens. Learn more about it by reading another post of mine!

Emma Woo Louie’s article also mentions the use of initials (like J.Y. Wang/C.Y. Wang for our example). I initially did not think to include this name format—I think it’s less in style now and it didn’t occur to me—but I have encountered it before.

I have also met Chinese Americans whose surnames were altered accidentally during the immigration process, thus leaving families with “misspelled” surnames. Certainly makes for an interesting family story!

Adoptees

Disclaimer: I’m not an adoptee and do not want to speak over adoptees. But I wanted to add a section on adoptee names. Thinking back, most Chinese adoptees I’ve met do not have anything in their legal name that is Chinese, but there are exceptions to this—I do know some who have names of the format Jiayi Smith or Jane Jiayi Smith. 

A former classmate of mine knew the story and meaning behind her name (it was given by the workers at the orphanage she was adopted from), but I don’t know how common her experience is. My assumption is that most adoptive parents don’t know Chinese, so they probably won’t know much about their child’s Chinese name, and thus the child might not know much either. 

I’ve read some essays and other thoughts by adoptees about their relationships with their Chinese names that I’ll link below. I encourage you to check them out!

Names | 姓名 by Kimberly Rooney | 高小荣

Twitter thread by Lydia X. Z. Brown

Stuck in Racial Limbo by Hazel Yafang Livingston

Tumblr post by sanzuwuya

Multiracial Chinese Americans

For multiracial Chinese people, there is a whole world of other possibilities for names, but a lot of what I wrote above can apply as well. Every person and family is different! Here are just a few general trends I’ve observed:

• Non-Chinese first name plus legal Chinese middle name *
• Has Chinese name that isn’t part of legal name *
• No Chinese name at all *
• Has mother’s maiden name as a middle name +
• Hyphenated surname
• I’m sure there are multiracial Chinese people with Chinese given names, but in my experience, it’s not common here
  

*Surname may or may not be of Chinese origin
+If mother is Chinese and father is not

Following typical naming conventions here, it’s more likely someone has a Chinese surname if their father is Chinese, but this isn’t true in all cases. In the case that someone has their father’s non-Chinese surname, they might use their mother’s Chinese surname in situations where they are going by their Chinese name. Like Jane Jiayi Smith might use her mother’s surname 王 and go by 王佳怡 in Chinese class, even thought Wang doesn’t appear in her legal name. 

Fellow Chinese diaspora folks, feel free to add on with contributions about names of the diaspora in your country/community/family/etc.!