Our method
Find My Chinese Name gives English speakers an authentic Chinese name, chosen from their birth date. It is a naming method, not fortune-telling, and not a phonetic translation of an English name. Here is exactly how a name is made.
1. Your chart is calculated, not guessed
Your birth date (and hour, if you know it) is converted on the traditional Chinese solar calendar into four pillars, following the Zi Ping (子平) method of reading a birth chart, which took shape about a thousand years ago. From it we take your day master and how strongly each of the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) shows up, and work out which elements the chart leans toward. This step is deterministic: the same birth date always gives the same chart. What is BaZi?
2. Characters come from classical poetry
Given-name characters are drawn from the Book of Songs (诗经) and the Songs of Chu (楚辞), the same sources Chinese families have borrowed names from for centuries. Each is tagged with its element, and rare or obscure characters are filtered out. Every name is then checked: no unfortunate Chinese homophones, no awkward repeated sounds, no pinyin that spells something embarrassing in English, and characters with more than one reading are pinned to the reading used in names. Our character dictionary explains the most common name characters.
3. Classical sources, only when they are real
When a name's characters appear in a line of the Book of Songs (诗经) or the Songs of Chu (楚辞), we show the original line and its source. We never invent a quotation: if there is no verified source, we say so and explain the imagery instead.
4. Your surname, if you give one
Chinese names put the family name first. If you add your last name, we choose a real Chinese surname close to its sound. Your given name is then chosen for meaning and balance, not sound. How Chinese names work
5. Where AI is used
An AI model helps pick among the library characters and writes the English explanations from the facts above (your chart, each character's data, the verified source line). It is instructed never to predict the future or invent sources. The chart itself, the character data and the classical lines are not generated by AI.
6. A person can check it
If you want certainty, a native scholar can review your name and chart by hand and write back in plain language within 7 days. This is optional and paid.
What this is not
Everything here is offered for cultural and personal interest. Nothing on Find My Chinese Name is a prediction of the future or advice about money, health, relationships or any life decision. See our terms and privacy pages.