The Rule of Chinese Names

In most social situations, we use the family name as the first name, such as “Little Li”（小李）, “Old Li”（老李）, “Director Li”（李总), “Professor Li”（李教授）, etc. Translating “given name” as “first name” is a historical misconception that has significantly misunderstanding of Chinese culture.

The concept of a surname in China is not the same as in Western countries. European surnames are numerous and varied, still indicating some lineage, tribes, and even the professions of people in the Middle Ages. Due to the flat geographic terrain of China and its more time unified history, surnames have gone through a lot of mergers and are few in number (roughly equivalent to the common names in the West), losing the significance of indicating lineage or tribes. The given name is the further differentiated title, representing the core family, with higher distinction and stronger privacy.

Calling someone by their last name that is given name or full name is a personal or rude matter, either indicating intimacy (like “Xiao Ming”（Mingg-ie, 小明）, “Zhiqiang”（志强) or used as a form of self-deprecation (“Only Your Excellency and Cao”惟使君与操耳), or even directly as a blame(“Cao rule with force, I rule with benevolence”操以暴，吾以仁). It is acceptable for the elder to call the younger by their given name, but not vice versa. Since there are fewer types of surnames and the distinction is low, to use last name is less private.