Our Desk | Fun Mandarin: zí

Julie Zhu

Today marks the first day of the fun mandarin series. This series will serve only for entertainment purposes.
In 2019, the simplified Chinese character 梓 (zǐ) topped the list of most used characters in names of newborns in mainland China.
梓 refers to the catalpa tree, to a board that is sculpted for printing purposes, to a hometown. It can also be used as a surname.
子 (zǐ) is second on the list. It means children, grandchildren, young people, fruits, animal eggs, young, interests, naming a person, naming people with good morality and good knowledge, time, feudalist hierarchy, naming words, units for some verbs, etc.
宇 (yǔ) is third on the list. It can refer to a roof, a house, space, time, territory, or aura.
浩 (hào) 宇 (yǔ) was the most picked full name given to mainland newborn boys in 2019, with 20,102 boys getting this name. 浩 (hào) refers mostly to big, wide, deep, big quantity.
一 (yī) 诺 (nuò) was the most picked full name given to mainland newborn girls in the same year. 一 (yī) can refer to pure, focus, full, sameness, another, short movement, integration, unification, otherwise, first time. 诺 (nuò) is the sound or verb for agreement or promise.
王 (wáng)，李 (lǐ)，张 (zhāng)，刘 (liú)，陈 (chén) are the top five surnames which have the largest population. In Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, 陈 (chén) is the most common surname. In Heilongjiang, Jilin, Neimenggu, Liaoning, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Gansu, Hainan and Xinjiang, 王(wáng) is the most common surname. In Shanghai, 张 (zhāng) is the most common surname. In Sichuan, Hubei, Chongqing, Hunan, Yunnan, 李(lǐ) is the most common surname. In Guizhou, 杨 (yáng) is the most common surname. In Jiangxi, 刘 (liú) is the most common surname. In Guangxi, 黄 (huáng) is the most common surname. In both Qinghai and Ningxia, 马 (mǎ) is the most common surname.
As of December 31, 2019, a total of 21.28 million mainlanders’ names contain the character 国 (guó). The character means a form of government which have lands, people and sovereignty, country, face of a country, political type of a country, nation, policies related to a country… basically, anything related to a country. It can also be used to specifically refer to China in many expressions. Some 17.69 million mainland men are named with 国 (guó), while 3.59 million mainland women also use this character in their names.
The top ten mainland male given names containing 国 (guó) are: 建 (jiàn)国 (guó), meaning to build or to develop the country; 国 (guó)强 (qiáng), meaning making a country strong, or a strong country; 国 (guó)华 (huá), meaning a brilliant, flourish, country; 国 (guó)庆(qìng), meaning to celebrate the country or the other way around, it is also the name of the national holiday of China; 国 (guó) 平 (píng), meaning a peaceful country or a stable country; 国 (guó)良 (liáng), meaning a long living country; 国 (guó)军 (jūn), meaning national army; 志 (zhì) 国 (guó), meaning remembering the country or devoted to the country; 国 (guó)栋(dòng), which stands for country pillar, meaning people who can bear an important mission; and 国 (guó)辉(huī), for things that give a country a good face or make a nation proud.
It must be stressed that the meaning of these names is not singular. I have only listed the most common or general meaning behind each of these favourite names.