Family names and given names

In Chinese names the family name precedes the given name. (This is also true for Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese names.) However, in some countries, particularly the USA, Chinese people opt to reverse the order in line with the custom for European names ("Xiaoping Deng" instead of "Deng Xiaoping").

Almost all Chinese surnames consist of a single syllable. A very few surnames consist of two syllables.

Chinese given names consist of either one or two syllables - most commonly two.

A 2-syllable name is standardly written as one word, but people may choose to write it as 2 words, or as a hyphenated word: "Deng Xiaoping" / "Deng Xiao Ping" / "Deng Xiao-ping". As a rule of thumb, use the form on the student's academic record.

Many Chinese students choose to adopt an English given name to be used in place of their Chinese given name. There are several different ways of combining the two names - see the Wikipedia page Chinese name: Regional variations .