How to Say My Name Is in Chinese: 我叫, 我是, and 我姓

By Ray Banks·October 4, 2026·Phrases

"My name is..." in Chinese is 我叫..., pronounced wǒ jiào, followed by your name: 我叫王小明, 我叫 Sarah. That is the everyday, all-purpose version, and it works in Mainland China and Taiwan alike. The two alternatives you will also hear are 我是 wǒ shì ("I am"), which is what you say when the other person already expects you, and 我姓 wǒ xìng ("my surname is"), which is the formal answer when someone asks 您贵姓. Knowing which verb to reach for is most of what separates a textbook introduction from a natural one.

我叫, 我是, or 我姓? Which one do you actually want

The three verbs answer three slightly different questions. 我叫 answers "what are you called?" 我是 answers "who are you?" 我姓 answers "what family are you from?" English collapses all three into "my name is," which is why learners get stuck choosing.

A rough guide: if you are meeting someone for the first time and they have no idea who you are, use 我叫. If they are expecting you, or you are identifying yourself rather than introducing yourself, use 我是. If a formal setting calls for your surname, or someone has asked 您贵姓, use 我姓. The cards below show each in its natural habitat.

One test that resolves most cases: could you replace "my name is" with "this is" in English? If yes (on the phone, at reception), it is 我是. If it has to be "my name is," it is 我叫.

How do you give your surname formally in Chinese?

When an adult asks your name in a formal setting, they often ask for your surname only, with 您贵姓 nín guìxìng, "your honourable surname?" The answer has a small ritual around it, and this is where Mainland and Taiwan habits part ways.

The reason surnames get their own verb is that Chinese address runs on them. Once a colleague knows you are 王, you become 王老师, 王经理, 小王, or 老王 depending on age and role, and your given name may go unused for years. So 我姓 is not a trivia formula; it hands the other person the piece of information they will actually use. If you want the full politeness ladder for asking someone else's name, see how to introduce yourself in Chinese.

How do you tell people what to call you?

The second half of a good Chinese introduction is not your name but your preferred form of address. Because titles matter, native speakers volunteer this, and so should you.

How do you introduce yourself to a group or at work?

Group introductions in Chinese follow a tight template: greet, name, affiliation, then a closing courtesy. Here are the pieces.

Put together, a first-day introduction sounds like this: 大家好，我叫王小明，是新来的，以后请多多指教. Greeting, name, status, courtesy. Under ten seconds, and it covers everything a Chinese listener expects to hear.

Which "my name is" should I use? A comparison table

Mistakes to avoid

The errors below are the ones I hear from learners at every level, including from people who have been living in China or Taiwan for a while.

• 我叫是... or 我叫的名字是... 叫 is already the verb, "to be called." Adding 是 makes it "I'm called is." 我叫 + name, nothing in between.
• Defaulting to 我的名字是. It is grammatical and everyone understands it, but it is a translation of English, and native speakers reserve it for contrast (my Chinese name is..., my real name is...). 我叫 is what they say for plain introductions.
• Putting the full name after 我姓. 姓 means "to be surnamed," so 我姓王小明 is like saying "my surname is Wang Xiaoming." Surname only after 姓; full name after 叫.
• Getting the name order backwards. Chinese names run surname first: 王小明 is Mr Wang, given name Xiaoming. If you have a Chinese name, say it in Chinese order. If you are giving a Western name, either order is understood, but many people put the given name first and let the surname follow if asked.
• Saying 免贵 when nobody said 贵姓. 免贵 declines an honorific. If the other person asked 你叫什么名字 or nothing at all, 免贵姓王 answers a question that wasn't asked and sounds oddly ceremonial. Save it for an actual 贵姓, and in Taiwan lean toward 敝姓 or plain 我姓.

What do the characters in 我叫 and 我姓 actually mean?

Three verbs, three characters, and each one tells you why it is used the way it is.

叫 jiào has a mouth radical 口 on the left, and its core meaning is "to call out, to shout": 他叫我 is "he called me (over)." From "to call" comes "to be called," and that passive sense is the one in 我叫. This is why no 是 is needed: 叫 is a full verb, and the name is its object. The same character gives you 叫车 "to call a cab" (the Taiwan word for what the Mainland calls 打车) and 叫外卖 "to order delivery."

姓 xìng is 女 "woman" plus 生 "to be born," a relic of the fact that the oldest Chinese clan names were matrilineal. As a noun it means "surname"; as a verb, "to have the surname." 名 míng is 夕 "evening" over 口 "mouth": the traditional explanation is that in the dark you cannot be seen, so you must call out who you are. 名字 míngzi, the everyday word for "name," pairs 名 with 字, and historically 名 was the given name while 字 was a courtesy name adopted in adulthood. Today 名字 just means "name," though 姓名 xìngmíng ("surname and given name") is what forms ask for. The Chinese grammar guide has more on why some Chinese verbs, like 姓 and 叫, don't need a copula.

Why surnames come first, and why it matters for how you introduce yourself

Chinese names put the family before the individual: 王小明 is the Wang family's Xiaoming. That ordering is not a formality; it reflects how people are addressed. In most workplaces and classrooms you will be surname-plus-title (王老师, 陈经理), and among peers you will be 小王 or 老王 far more often than 小明. Given names are for family, close friends, and partners. So when you introduce yourself, the surname is the practical piece of information, and the little ritual around 贵姓 exists because the surname is what the listener needs to address you correctly for the rest of the relationship.

Learners with Western names sit slightly outside this system, and both regions handle it gracefully. In Taiwan, English given names are so common in offices that 我叫 David is a normal Chinese sentence, and colleagues will simply use David. On the Mainland the same is true in international companies, while in more traditional settings people may ask for a Chinese name so they have something to put a title on. If you are asked 你有中文名字吗？, it is not a test. It is someone looking for a handle. Having a Chinese name ready, even a simple one, is a small kindness to the people you meet. The nice to meet you post covers what comes right after the name.

See these phrases in real stories

Two of the shortest free stories in our browser reader are built entirely around these verbs, which makes them ideal first reads:

• What's Your Name?: 你好！你叫什么？ 我叫约翰。你叫什么？ 我叫小婷. The whole 叫 exchange in four lines, question and answer, with the question form 你叫什么 you will need to recognise before you can reply.
• I Am John: 你是约翰吗？ 是的，我是约翰. This is 我是 in its natural role, confirming identity when the other person already has a name in mind. Read the two stories back to back and the 叫 / 是 distinction is settled.

Both stories are also in Traditional characters in the Traditional reading practice collection, and there are hundreds more graded texts in the main Chinese reading practice library.

How common are these characters, really?

Measured across the 658 graded stories in the Literate Chinese catalog (141,730 hanzi occurrences, July 2026), 我 is the 5th most frequent character, 是 the 6th, and 叫 the 112th. 姓 and 名 do not appear in our top 150, which reflects how narrative text works: characters in stories are named once and then referred to as 他, 她, or by name, so the act of naming is rare on the page even though it is constant in real life. 叫 sits higher than you might expect because it also means "to call out" and "to tell someone to do something" (妈妈叫我回家), both common in stories. Learn 我叫 as a spoken formula, and let your reading fill in the other senses of 叫 over time.