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Chinese name character

Chinese name character 家

jiā

Traditional: 傢

The character 家 (Mandarin jiā) appears in 21 names and 5 syllables in this reference and is spelled Kah, Ka, Kar, Chia and Jia in Malaysia. Recorded meanings include “house, home; family”.

Names and syllables
26
Malaysian spellings
5
Strokes
10
Attested in records
12

26 names and syllables in this reference have 家 as one of their character options. For 12 of them, 家 is attested in records of real names; the rest are possible characters for that spelling.

Meanings of 家: the recorded options

  • house, home; family

    in 33 character options · attested

Unihan definition: house, home, residence; family

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 家

家 Kah Hokkien · Cantonese Ka Hokkien · Cantonese · Hakka Kar Hokkien · Cantonese Chia romanization not stated Jia Mandarin
家 yields 5 spellings in our records. The label under each spelling is the romanization it follows, not the bearer’s dialect.
SpellingRomanizationattested in name records
KahHokkien · Cantoneseattested in name records
KaHokkien · Cantonese · Hakkaattested in name records
KarHokkien · Cantoneseattested in name records
Chiaromanization not statedattested in name records
JiaMandarinpossible

Readings of 家 by dialect

DialectReadingMalaysian spelling
HokkienPe̍h-ōe-jī ka Kah, Ka, Kar
CantoneseJyutping gaa1 Kah, Ka, Kar
HakkaPha̍k-fa-sṳ kâ Ka
MandarinHanyu Pinyin jiā Jia

Readings from the character options in our name records; Unihan gives Mandarin jiā and Cantonese gaa1.

21 names that can be written with 家

5 syllables that can stand for 家

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: 家 · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  2. MDBG: 家 · mdbg.net · meaning
  3. Unicode Unihan Database: U+5BB6 · 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 家 mean in a name?

Our records give several meanings for 家, including “house, home; family”. What a name actually means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine.

How is 家 spelled in Malaysia?

In our records 家 is spelled Kah (Hokkien, Cantonese), Ka (Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka), Kar (Hokkien, Cantonese), Chia and Jia (Mandarin). A spelling follows a dialect’s romanization; it does not show which dialect anyone speaks.

Is every Kah written 家?

Not necessarily. The spelling Kah can also stand for 嘉, 佳. Only the family knows which character was chosen.