Chinese Girl Names: 121 Names With Characters and Meanings

Chinese girl names such as Mei, Ting, Lihua, Xiulan and Yulan are written with Chinese characters, so this list of 121 gives the common characters for every name and what those characters mean.

If you are looking for Chinese girl names, one fact matters more than any single entry: the meaning of a Chinese name depends on the characters chosen to write it. The same pinyin sound can be written with different characters, so the meanings here are common examples, not the only ones.

We grouped the names by style: classics, short one-syllable names, names meaning beautiful, flower and jade names, and a large unisex section. You will also find a plain guide to how Chinese names work, how they are spelled in English and how to choose one with care.

Chinese Girl Names at a Glance

Every one of the 121 names on this page has its own Behind the Name entry with Chinese usage, and we read each entry in October 2026. The characters and the glosses in quotation marks are the ones each entry gives. Names the reference lists only for girls appear in the themed sections; names it lists for both girls and boys are grouped in the Unisex Chinese Names section further down.

How to read the tables: the first column is the name as Behind the Name spells it in pinyin, without tone marks. The second column shows the characters the entry lists, with traditional forms in parentheses when they differ from the simplified ones. The third column gives the meaning of those characters in the entry’s own words. When a row shows two or three spellings, each is a separate option, and the meaning changes with the one you choose. Entries often end by noting that other characters can form the name too, so think of each row as a starting point for a conversation with family, not a final answer.

Before the lists, it helps to know the building blocks. A small set of characters turns up again and again in the names below. The table shows each one with the meaning the entries give and a few names that use it.

Behind the Name’s overview of Chinese names says some characters are especially popular, and its example is Mei, “beautiful”, for girls. For girl names from many languages, see our main list of baby girl names.

How Chinese Names Work: Characters, Order and Tones

If you are new to Chinese names, a few facts explain almost everything on this page.

• Family name first: Behind the Name says a Chinese name is a surname followed by a given name, usually in that order. The Cultural Atlas, a cultural reference by Mosaica, puts it the same way: the family name always comes before the given name, though some people rearrange their name into Western order.
• One or two characters: Behind the Name says given names usually have two syllables, though using only one is also common. Each syllable is written with one character.
• The characters carry the meaning: each syllable can be any of thousands of characters, so the combinations are nearly endless. That is why the same name, say Xinyi, can be written 欣怡 or 心怡 and carry a slightly different meaning.
• Tones: Elementary Chinese I, an open textbook from Michigan State University Libraries, says Mandarin has four tones and that tones tell apart words with the same syllable. The tone marks show up in the pinyin inside each entry, such as měi or tíng, while the name headings themselves are written without them.
• Generation names: in some families every child of one generation shares a character in the given name, according to both Behind the Name and the Cultural Atlas.
• Not named after relatives: Behind the Name notes that Chinese parents do not typically name babies after relatives or famous people.
• Married names: the Cultural Atlas says women do not change their legal names at marriage.

Two writing systems sit behind the characters. A UC San Diego page on simplified characters explains that mainland China publishes in the simplified standard, which was first issued as a draft in 1956, while traditional characters remain the norm in Taiwan and Hong Kong. That is why many rows below show two forms, such as 丽华 and 麗華. If your family reads one system, use that one.

Classic Chinese Girl Names and Meanings

These two-character names are listed only for girls on Behind the Name. Many pair a quality, such as 秀 (“luxuriant, beautiful, elegant, outstanding”) or 雅 (“elegant, graceful, refined”), with a flower, a bird or a sound. They have a settled, classic feel, and you will meet them among women of many ages.

Look closely at Xiaoyan and Xiaoling. Both open with a sound, xiao, that the entries spell with 晓 (“dawn”) or 小 (“small”). The sound is shared; the meaning comes from whichever character a family picks. The Cultural Atlas also notes that Xiao (“small”) can be placed before a family name when speaking to friends of the same age or younger, a sign of closeness.

Short One-Syllable Chinese Girl Names

A single-character name is short, easy to say and easy to pair with an English middle name. Behind the Name says one-syllable given names are common, and these seven are listed only for girls.

Mei is the one most English speakers already know. Na has an interesting history: per its entry, it comes from an alternate reading of 娜 that was first used to write foreign feminine names in Chinese. For more short ideas from many languages, see our short girl names list.

Chinese Girl Names Meaning Beautiful or Graceful

Behind the Name glosses several feminine characters as “beautiful” or “graceful”: 丽 (“beautiful, lovely”), 娟 (“beautiful, graceful”), 婷 (“pretty, graceful”), 倩 (“beautiful”) and 媛 (“beautiful woman”). These names build on them. Three of them repeat one character, which to our ears gives them a soft, playful sound.

The doubled names show the rule again. Yuanyuan can be written 媛媛 (“beautiful woman”), 圆圆 (“circle, complete”) or 元元 (“first, origin”): three spellings, three meanings, one sound. More names in this family appear in the unisex tables, among them Fang (芳, “fragrant, virtuous, beautiful”), Xiu, Qian and Xinyan. For the idea across languages, see our names that mean beautiful guide.

Chinese Girl Names Meaning Flower, Plum, Jade and Moon

Plum (梅), orchid (兰) and jade (玉) appear again and again in names listed for girls. Here are the feminine-only names in this group, each with the characters its entry gives.

Mulan is the one name here whose Behind the Name usage is Chinese mythology rather than everyday Chinese naming. The entry gives 木兰 as “magnolia” and identifies it as the name of a legendary female warrior who takes her father’s place in the army. Yulan, 玉兰, also means “magnolia”, built from 玉 (“jade”) and 兰 (“orchid”).

• Moon: Behind the Name has no feminine-only moon name in its Chinese list. The closest match is Yue, which can be written 月, “moon”, and is listed for both girls and boys. You will find it in the unisex table on the sky and seasons.
• More flowers: names listed for both genders add the lotus (Lian, He), the chrysanthemum (Ju), the daylily (Zixuan) and the bud (Bao, Lei, Meng). See the plants table below.
• More jade: Yu (玉), Lin (琳, “fine jade, gem”), Jiaqi (琪, “fine jade”) and Jiaying (莹, “lustrous, jade”) all sit in the unisex section.

Flower names in other languages are on our flower names list, and moon names on our names that mean moon guide.

Unisex Chinese Names

Many Chinese names are not tied to one gender. The characters chosen often lean a name one way or the other, and Behind the Name points this out entry by entry: for He, the character 荷 (“lotus, water lily”) is usually only feminine, while for Fen, 芬 (“fragrance”) is usually feminine and 奋 (“strive, exert”) usually masculine. Every name in this section is listed for both girls and boys. The “Gender listed” column copies the order on the entry; the order is the reference’s, and we did not treat it as a measure of how often each gender uses the name.

Looking for a son’s name? Our same-day list of Chinese boy names covers names listed only for boys and points back here for the shared ones. For names that cross languages, see our gender neutral names guide.

If you want a unisex name to read clearly as a girl’s name, the characters are your best tool. Choosing 婷 (“pretty, graceful”), 兰 (“orchid, elegant”) or 怡 (“joy, harmony”) steers a shared sound toward the feminine, while the same sound written with a character the entry marks as usually masculine steers it the other way. A fluent reader can tell you how your exact pair of characters comes across.

Several of these pair nature with a feeling or a sound: Yuxin joins 雨 (“rain”) with 欣 (“happy, joyous, delighted”), and Ruoxi joins 若 (“like, if”) with 汐 (“evening tide”). Rain (雨) opens several names in these tables: Yuting, Yuhan, Yutong, Yuxi, Yuchen and Yuxin can all be written starting with it, though each can also start with a different character.

Spelling Chinese Names in English: Pinyin and Other Romanizations

Behind the Name says Chinese names are generally romanized with the pinyin system, which is the spelling used throughout this page. Older systems such as Wade-Giles are still used, especially in Taiwan. Two-syllable given names are usually written as one word in mainland China, usually hyphenated in Taiwan, and sometimes split with a space by Cantonese speakers. So Xiaoling might also appear as Xiao-Ling or Xiao Ling, depending on where a family’s roots are.

Pinyin spellings can surprise English readers, which is worth knowing before you commit. The spelling is a system, not a guess at English sounds, so a name such as Xiulan or Qianqian may need a little coaching for teachers and friends. That is not a reason to skip a name you love, only a reason to practice saying it aloud with someone fluent and to decide how you will introduce it.

Spelling also changes with the language. Two entries show this clearly:

• Pick one spelling: choose one form (Xiaoling, Xiao-Ling or Xiao Ling) and use it on every document.
• Accents and tone marks: pinyin tone marks such as the one in měi are part of the written language, but U.S. paperwork does not always carry accents or special characters, so most families spell the name without them.

Chinese Baby Girl Names for Chinese American and Bilingual Families

If you searched for Chinese American names, you may be weighing more than one name system. There is no single right way. These are the common patterns, offered as options rather than rules.

• An English first name and a Chinese name: the Cultural Atlas notes it is common for Chinese people to adopt a Western personal name for English-speaking settings. Many families give a daughter both, using the Chinese name with relatives.
• A Chinese name in the middle slot: a short name such as Mei, Ning or Lin sits easily between an English first name and a surname. Our middle names guide has more on pairing.
• A Chinese first name: short names whose spelling matches their sound for English speakers, such as Mei, Lin, Ling, Jia, An, Yu and Dan, tend to travel well.
• A generation character: if your family uses one, ask elders which character your daughter’s generation shares before you settle on the second character.

None of these entries lists English as a usage on Behind the Name, so we have not called any of them “common in the U.S.” For context, none is in the U.S. top 10 either: for girls born in 2025 the Social Security Administration lists Olivia, Charlotte, Emma, Amelia, Sophia, Mia, Isabella, Evelyn, Sofia and Eliana. If you are comparing other East Asian traditions, our Japanese girl names page uses the same checked approach.

How to Choose a Chinese Name for Your Daughter: A Checklist

These steps are our advice, not rules, and they apply whether the name will be a first name, a middle name or a name used at home.

• Start with the characters, not the sound: choose a sound you love, then look at its common characters and decide which meaning you want. Write the characters down, not just the pinyin.
• Ask a fluent reader: have a native speaker check the full name with your family name. The Cultural Atlas notes that names may be chosen so their meaning is complemented by the family name, so the combination matters as much as the parts.
• Check the tones: say the full name aloud with the tones a fluent speaker gives you. Mandarin’s four tones change meaning, so a name that looks fine on paper can sound different than you expect.
• Pick simplified or traditional: use the writing system your family reads, and keep it consistent on keepsakes.
• Think about nicknames: ask relatives what they would call her day to day. A two-character name may pick up a short form at home, and it helps to like that version too.
• Honor family your way: a shared generation character, a grandparent’s favorite flower or a season of birth (Chun for spring, Qiu for autumn) are all gentle ways to carry family meaning.
• Run the everyday tests: say the full name with your surname, write the initials and try the pinyin spelling on a form.

Related Betteroo Guides

• Chinese Boy Names
• Japanese Girl Names
• Korean Girl Names
• Names That Mean Beautiful
• Flower Names
• Gender Neutral Names

The Bottom Line

The best Chinese girl names are chosen twice: once for the sound and once for the characters. Shortlist a few names you love, look at the characters each entry gives, and remember that each meaning here is one common example among several. Then check the characters and tones with someone fluent and settle on one spelling.

Once the name is settled, Betteroo can help with what comes next. Our newborn sleep schedule week by week walks you through those first months of sleep.

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