A Chinese personal name consists of two parts: a surname and a given name. Chinese people do not have middle names. The order is the reverse of English names: surname first, given name last. A married woman in Mainland China does not carry their husbands’ surnames. If Miss. Wang Xiaozhi married Mr. Zhang Ning, she becomes Mrs. Zhang, but at the same time she remains Wang Xiaozhi. If Wang Xiaozhi is from Hongkong or Taiwan, however, she may add her husband’s surname to her full name and refer herself as Zhang Wang Xiaozhi.

There are four common patterns for Chinese names (The first pattern with a momosyllable surname followed by a disyllable given name is the most common one):
1. surname(monosyllable) + given name(disyllable)
e.g.:
Wáng Jīnghuá 王京华
Wú Tiānmíng 吴天明
2. surname(monosyllable) + given name(monosyllable)
e.g.:
Liú Jiā 刘佳
Wáng Jiàn 王健
3. surname(disyllable) + given name(disyllable)
e.g.:
Sīmǎ Xiàngrú 司马相如
Shàngguān Yúnzhū 上官云珠
4. surname(disyllable) + given name(monosyllable)
e.g.:
Zhūgě Liàng 诸葛亮
Ōuyáng Xiū 欧阳修