Chinese Names: How to Write Them

People in China, Japan and Korea all write their names with the FAMILY NAME first, followed by their given name. Here are some very famous people whose names are always written with the family name first:

1) The Tang Dynasty poet 李白LI Bai (Some people write Li Po). Nobody ever calls him "白李!"

Public domain image of Li Bai

2) The founder of modern Japan, 福澤 諭吉 Fukuzawa Yukichi (If you don't know him, you should find out, Wikipedia: English, Chinese). In Japan, Mr Fukuzawa is highly respected. That's why his name appears on Japanese 10,000 Yen notes:

Fukuzawa Yukichi appears on Japanese money: CC BY Fer1997

3) Korean actor and pop star 李敏鎬 이민호 Lee Min-ho. He never calls himself Min-ho Lee .

'Lee Min Ho crop' CC BY LGEPR

If you spell the two characters (for most people) of your Chinese given name in small letters (lower case) and your family name in CAPITALS, most Western people will not confuse your family name and your given name. They will understand which is which.