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Chinese name character

Chinese name character 贝

bèi

Traditional: 貝

The character 贝 (Mandarin bèi) appears in 2 names and 2 syllables in this reference and is spelled Bei and Pei in Malaysia. Recorded meanings include “shellfish, cowrie; money” and “cowrie shell, old currency”.

Names and syllables
4
Malaysian spellings
2
Strokes
4
Attested in records
4

4 names and syllables in this reference have 贝 as one of their character options. For 4 of them, 贝 is attested in records of real names; the rest are possible characters for that spelling.

Meanings of 贝: the recorded options

  • shellfish, cowrie; money

    in 2 character options · attested

  • cowrie shell, old currency

    in 1 character options · attested

Unihan definition: sea shell; money, currency

What a name means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine; these are options, not one definite meaning.

Malaysian spellings of 贝

贝 Bei Mandarin Pei romanization not stated
贝 yields 2 spellings in our records. The label under each spelling is the romanization it follows, not the bearer’s dialect.
SpellingRomanization
BeiMandarin
Peiromanization not stated

Readings of 贝 by dialect

DialectReadingMalaysian spelling
MandarinHanyu Pinyin bèi Bei

Readings from the character options in our name records; Unihan gives Mandarin bèi and Cantonese bui3.

2 names that can be written with 贝

2 syllables that can stand for 贝

Sources

  1. MDBG: 贝 · mdbg.net · meaning
  2. Wiktionary: 贝 · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  3. Unicode Unihan Database: U+8D1D · unicode.org · meaning

Readings, meanings and stroke count: the character options in our name records and the Unicode Unihan Database (Unicode License). A spelling describes how a name is written, not anyone’s dialect or background.

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Frequently asked questions

What does 贝 mean in a name?

Our records give several meanings for 贝, including “shellfish, cowrie; money” and “cowrie shell, old currency”. What a name actually means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine.

How is 贝 spelled in Malaysia?

In our records 贝 is spelled Bei (Mandarin) and Pei. A spelling follows a dialect’s romanization; it does not show which dialect anyone speaks.

Is every Bei written 贝?

Not necessarily. The spelling Bei can also stand for 蓓. Only the family knows which character was chosen.