What Chinese families look for in a name
Meaning comes first, then sound, then the look of the characters on the page. The birth chart is a refinement: a character with a poor meaning should not be used however well its element fits.
This tool works in the same order. Every character in its list was picked by hand, with unlucky or unkind ones left out from the start; your chosen traditions are applied after that.
How the birth chart and Five Elements work
A bazi ("eight characters") chart writes the year, month, day and hour of birth as four pairs of heavenly stems and earthly branches. Years and months turn on the solar terms, so a child born in January may still belong to the previous year.
Each stem and branch belongs to one of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water. The tool counts them, suggests whichever element is missing, or the weakest if none is. If you don't know the hour, it can still work from three pillars.
Where a character's element comes from
No single classic assigns elements to characters. Naming manuals mostly go by radical and meaning: tree, grass and bamboo radicals count as Wood; fire, sun and heart as Fire; earth, mountain and stone as Earth; metal and jade as Metal; water and rain as Water. Manuals do not always agree.
So each result shows the basis for its classification. Characters with no clear link are marked as such and never used to add an element.
Sound, generation names and avoiding elders' names
A name should rise and fall when read with the surname. The tool avoids three syllables on the same tone, and checks the full name for unfortunate puns.
If your family uses a generation poem, enter this generation's character and it will appear in every suggestion. By custom a child's name also avoids characters from elders' names; list them and they will not be chosen.
Names from the classics
Taking a name from the Book of Songs, the Analects or Tang and Song poetry is an old scholarly habit. Where a name comes from a known line, the original text and its source are shown, so you can read it in context.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the tool score names?
- No. There is no agreed score for a name. It lists facts — meaning, the basis of each element, tones and sources — and leaves the judgement to you.
- Is my child's birth date uploaded?
- No. The chart is calculated in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server and no account is needed.
- What if I don't know the time of birth?
- Tick "Time unknown". The chart then uses three pillars instead of four.
- Do I have to use the Five Elements?
- No. They are a cultural tradition, not a scientific finding, and cannot decide a child's future. Use them only if they mean something to your family.
- Can I use it if we live outside China?
- Yes. Enter the family name in Chinese characters. Meanings are shown in English, along with pinyin for pronunciation.
See also
Bazi and the Five Elements are cultural traditions. This is a naming aid, not a prediction of your child's future.