名字
name
Say it yourself
Hear a native speaker, say it back, and see both pitch lines. Your voice stays on this device.
HSK level
- Pinyin
- míngzi
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 12
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个
- In episodes
- 4
Stroke order for 名字
名字 is written with 12 strokes (名: 6, 字: 6). The animation replays automatically.
What does 名字 mean?
名字 (míngzi) is the everyday word for 'name' — a person's name, a pet's name, a place name, the name of anything.
The second syllable 字 is unstressed (neutral tone). The most common HSK 1 question is 你叫什么名字 ('what's your name?'), literally 'you are called what name.'
Two notes for English speakers: first, in Chinese 名字 usually refers to the full given name (or full name including surname), not specifically a first name — to disambiguate, 姓 (xìng) is the family name and 名 alone is the given name. Second, for formal situations like filling out a form or asking an elder, 您贵姓 ('your honored surname') is the polite formula, not 名字. 名字 is neutral/informal and what you'll hear in everyday conversation.
Character by character
Memory hook: 名 (name) + 字 (characters) = the characters that spell your name.
Hear 名字 in real episodes
名字 appears in 4 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
他做完了题，看到谷歌的名字。
After he finished the problem, he saw Google's name.
Economist Bartleby Column: Andrew Palmer on the Hidden Costs of Workplace Curiosity
去年，伦敦有一列火车用了这个国王的名字。
Last year, a train in London used this king's name.
England's First King Æthelstan: 1,100 Years of Near-Forgetting
一个人说一个名字。
One person says one name.
Lula Wins Brazil's Presidency at 80 — A Comeback Over Flávio Bolsonaro by 52% to 48%
他们的名字，我们不知道。
We do not know their names.
Fingerprints on the Terracotta Army Suggest Women and Teenagers Helped Make It
Example sentences
你叫什么名字？
Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
What's your name?
spoken
我的名字是李明。
Wǒ de míngzi shì Lǐ Míng.
My name is Li Ming.
neutral
他的名字很好听。
Tā de míngzi hěn hǎotīng.
His name sounds nice.
spoken
请在这儿写你的名字。
Qǐng zài zhèr xiě nǐ de míngzi.
Please write your name here.
polite
Common phrases with 名字
Synonyms
姓名 is the formal 'full name' (surname + given name), used on forms, documents, and official contexts. 名字 is conversational. On a passport application you'll see 姓名; in a coffee shop you'll be asked 名字.
Just 名 alone means 'given name' (the part after the surname) and shows up in compounds — 名片 (business card), 有名 (famous). In daily speech, the full word 名字 is what people say.
Don't confuse 名字 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 名字 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 名字 in 4 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.