Courtesies - Introduction
A Chinese name consists of two parts: the surname and the first name. The surname comes before the first name. For example in the name"王林 (wáng lín)"，"王 (wáng)" is the surname，"林 (lín) " is the first name. Most people have monosyllabic surnames. That means their surnames consist of only one character. The most frequently used surnames are "张 (zhāng)、王 (wáng)、李 (lǐ)", etc. Some other Chinese surnames have two characters, and such kinds of surnames are called compound surnames. The most frequently-used compound surnames include "欧阳 (ōu yáng)、司马 (sī mǎ)、东方 (dōng fāng )", etc. A Chinese first name usually consists of one or two characters, such as "王林 (wáng lín)", "李小明 (lǐ xiǎo míng)". Most Chinese first names have special meanings.
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