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BM

Chinese name character

Chinese name character 明

míng

The character 明 (Mandarin míng) appears in 38 names and 3 syllables in this reference and is spelled Beng, Ming, Meng and Min in Malaysia. Recorded meanings include “bright, light, brilliant; clear”, “bright; clear; wise” and “bright, intelligent”.

Names and syllables
41
Malaysian spellings
4
Strokes
8
Attested in records
28

41 names and syllables in this reference have 明 as one of their character options. For 28 of them, 明 is attested in records of real names; the rest are possible characters for that spelling.

Meanings of 明: the recorded options

  • bright, light, brilliant; clear

    in 75 character options · attested

  • bright; clear; wise

    in 2 character options · attested

  • bright, intelligent

    in 4 character options

Unihan definition: bright, light, brilliant; clear

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 明

明 Beng Hokkien Ming Cantonese · Mandarin · Foochow Meng Hokkien · Cantonese · Teochew Min Hakka
明 yields 4 spellings in our records. The label under each spelling is the romanization it follows, not the bearer’s dialect.
SpellingRomanization
BengHokkien
MingCantonese · Mandarin · Foochow
MengHokkien · Cantonese · Teochew
MinHakka

Readings of 明 by dialect

DialectReadingMalaysian spelling
HokkienPe̍h-ōe-jī bêng Beng, Meng
CantoneseJyutping ming4 Ming, Meng
HakkaPha̍k-fa-sṳ mìn Min
TeochewPeng’im mêng5 Meng
MandarinHanyu Pinyin míng Ming
FoochowBàng-uâ-cê mìng Ming

Readings from the character options in our name records; Unihan gives Mandarin míng and Cantonese ming4.

38 names that can be written with 明

3 syllables that can stand for 明

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: 明 · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  2. MDBG: 明 · mdbg.net · meaning
  3. Unicode Unihan Database: U+660E · 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 明 mean in a name?

Our records give several meanings for 明, including “bright, light, brilliant; clear”, “bright; clear; wise” and “bright, intelligent”. What a name actually means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine.

How is 明 spelled in Malaysia?

In our records 明 is spelled Beng (Hokkien), Ming (Cantonese, Mandarin, Foochow), Meng (Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew) and Min (Hakka). A spelling follows a dialect’s romanization; it does not show which dialect anyone speaks.

Is every Beng written 明?

Not necessarily. The spelling Beng can also stand for 铭, 盟. Only the family knows which character was chosen.