Updated September 2019
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Chinese
"outgoing"
Attractive middle name option.
"treasure, jewel"
Name introduced here via Chinese cinema, has middle-place potential.
"graceful willow"
Could be confused with the much less captivating Leanne.
Chinese, meaning unknown
This name was brought to the fore by acclaimed Chinese-American novelist and short story writer Gish Jen, whose birth name was Lillian.
Chinese; Hawaiian
"beautiful; plum"
Homophonous with Mae and May, the beautiful (literally) Mei is poised to climb the charts. The hero of the 2022 Disney/Pixar film Turning Red is a Chinese-Canadian teen named Meilin "Mei" Lee, which…
"quick"
Puts the -min in diminutive.
"great extreme"
Skater Tai Babilonia brought this sleek modern name to the world's attention. Pronounced "tie."
Chinese dynastic name
This name of the first recorded dynasty of ancient China is short and simple enough to make a possible Asian-American alternative to Mia and Tia. British-Filipino child star Xia Vigor has invigorated…
"beautiful, elegant, mind, soul, joyous"
A lovely name with many possible meanings depending on the characters used. A common feature of Chinese names for both sexes.
or Chinese
"support, favor, praise"
Confusion with English male name Zan could cause pronunciation problems.
"a treasure"
A striking choice, but might possibly be taken for Jen.
"leaf"
Ye is a name with a lovely meaning, which is probably just a bit short for usage outside the Chinese community. Paired with Mei, however, it could work. Ye-Mei would mean beautiful leaf, a lovely…
Mandarin
"precious gold"
Baojin, sometime hyphenated to Bao-Jin, has a luxurious meaning making it a relatively common choice for Mandarin-speaking parents. Baojin can be used for girls and boys. But this meaning also means…
"one promise; follow, promise"
Yinuo is a Chinese female name meaning "promise" and originated as part of an idiomatic expression "Yinuo Qianjin" (一诺千金), which means "one promise; one thousand gold" or "keep your word.".…
Popular culture
"sand skin"
The name of the glamorous mean girl in "High School Musical", Sharpay is a spin on the dog breed Shar Pei, which means "sand skin" in Chinese. As such, it's a brilliant name joke skewering the…