Chinese names often have two or three characters. Usually the first character is the surname, followed by the given name. When people address each other, they may use the surname plus a certain title, like “李小姐”、“王先生”etc. According to the latest survey, the ten most common surname in China are: 李、王、张、刘、陈、杨、赵、黄、周、吴。
In China telephones are generally answered without giving a person’s name, but business telephones may be answered with the name of a firm or unit. If the caller wishes to know the person he/she is speaking to, polite expressions such as “您是哪位？”or “您哪里？”may be used instead of “你是谁”.
Personal names in Chinese
culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name (surname or last name) first and the given name next, therefore “John Smith” as a Chinese name would be “Smith John”. For instance, the basketball player who is commonly called Yao Ming would be addressed as “Mr. Yao”, not “Mr. Ming”.
Some Chinese people who emigrate to, or do business with, Western countries sometimes adopt a Westernized name by simply reversing the “surname–given-name” order to “given-name–surname” (“Ming Yao”, to follow the previous example), or with a Western first name together with their surname, which is then written in the usual Western order with the surname last (“Fred Yao”). Some Chinese people sometimes take a combined name. There are 3 variations: Western name, surname, and Chinese given name, in that order (“Fred Yao Ming”). Western name, Chinese given name, and surname (“Fred Ming Yao”). Or surname, Chinese given name, followed by Western name (“Yao Ming Fred”). The Western name, surname and then given name practice is most common in Hong Kong, the Surname, Chinese given name and Western name is most common in Singapore. E.g. Lee Kuan Yew, Harry.
Traditional naming schemes often followed a pattern of using generation names as part of a two-character given name. This is by no means the norm, however. An alternative tradition, stemming from a Han Dynasty law that forbade two-character given names, is to have a single character given name. Some contemporary given names do not follow either tradition, and may in some cases extend to three or more characters.
When generation names are used as part of a two-character given name, it is highly inappropriate and confusing to refer to someone by the first part of their given name only which will generally be their generation name. Instead, the entire given name should be used. This should be the case regardless of whether the surname is used. For instance, referring to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as Hsien or Hsien Lee would be confusing as this could just as easily refer to his brother. However, this does commonly occur in Western societies where the first part of the given name is frequently mistakenly used as the first name when the given name is not hyphenated or adjoined.