10 Ways to Say What’s Your Name in Chinese | Ask People’s Name in Chinese

How to Say What's Your Name in Chinese

1. 你叫什么

nǐ jiào shén me - literal. you are called what liberal. what's your name
你叫什么 is a casual and probably the mostly used way of how to ask people's name in Chinese. You can use 你叫什么 to a person who is about the same age or younger than you. It can also be used among coworkers at your workplace, as long as the person you're asking is not your superior. In Chinese, level of politeness is not as strict as in Japanese or Korean, but with certain expressions such as asking people's name or greetings, you need to be careful with which level of politeness you choose for different situation and/or people.

2. 你姓什么

nǐ xìng shén me - literal. you family name what liberal. what's your family name
There is a way of how to ask what's your name in Chinese if you specifically wan to ask someone's last name. People's name are made of a first name, and a last name. For people that you want to be polite with, instead of asking their name, you can ask their last name instead. 你姓什么 is a relatively casual way to ask a person's last name, compared to 你贵姓.

3. 你叫什么名字

nǐ jiào shén me míngzi - literal. you are called what name liberal. what's your name
你叫什么名字 is generally the same as 你叫什么. 名字 is a person's name, it could be used to refer to both their full name and their first name only. 姓名 xìng míng full name, also means name, only it's more used in written language, like when you fill out a form and you are asked to write down your name, you will usually see 姓名.

4. 你的名字是什么

nǐ de míng zì shì shén me - literal. your name is what liberal. what's your name
Another phrase of how to ask what is your name in Chinese would be 你的名字是什么, it is the equivalent of 你叫什么名字, they mean the same thing, only with different word choices. 你的名字是什么 is less common than 你叫什么 or 你叫什么名字.

How to Say What's Your Name in Chinese If You're Annoyed

5. 你是谁

nǐ shì shuī/shéi - literal. you are who liberal. who are you
This is what you say when you DON'T want to be polite and you want the person to know. 你是谁 is usually used with an unfriendly intonation, suggesting that:

• you're probably blaming the person or about to blame them
• the person did or said something that they are not supposed to do or say
• you are intimidated by the person and want to know who they are