A 名 ming² [ming²] is an official name, which would be used on official documents and proclamations, and, at times, by a speaker of higher status than the name bearer. However, it was usually impolite to use an adult's ming when speaking to him or her if the person had other given names.

After he or she was no longer considered a child, an educated person or a person of consequence also had a 字 tzŭ⁴ [zi⁴], or style name, which could be used when it was concurrently appropriate to use a personal name and inappropriate to use a ming.

An educated Chinese adult might also have one or more 號 hao⁴ [hao⁴], which is a literary name, a fancy name, or a short title. However, hao were rarely used as personal names.

A Chinese person could also have a religious name, nicknames, sobriquets, pet names and, in some cases, a posthumous name and/or title. Some people used true locative bynames. In addition, Chinese use relational names more than Westerners.

However, Chinese people did not string their personal names together. They did not have something like a first and middle name. If it was appropriate to use a personal name, only one of the personal names would be used at a time.

For more information, see "Basic Naming Practices."