Chinese name character

Chinese name character 雅

yǎ

The character 雅 (Mandarin yǎ) appears in 1 name and 3 syllables in this reference and is spelled Ya, Ngah and Nya in Malaysia. Recorded meanings include “elegant; refined; proper”.

Names and syllables: 4
Malaysian spellings: 3
Strokes: 12
Attested in records: 2

4 names and syllables in this reference have 雅 as one of their character options. For 2 of them, 雅 is attested in records of real names; the rest are possible characters for that spelling.

Meanings of 雅: the recorded options

elegant; refined; proper
in 6 character options · attested

Unihan definition: elegant, graceful, refined

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 雅

雅 yields 3 spellings in our records. The label under each spelling is the romanization it follows, not the bearer’s dialect.

Spelling	Romanization	attested in name records
Ya	Mandarin	attested in name records
Ngah	Hokkien · Cantonese · Hakka	possible
Nya	Teochew	possible

Readings of 雅 by dialect

Dialect	Reading	Malaysian spelling
HokkienPe̍h-ōe-jī	ngá	Ngah
CantoneseJyutping	ngaa5	Ngah
HakkaPha̍k-fa-sṳ	ngá	Ngah
TeochewPeng’im	ngia2	Nya
MandarinHanyu Pinyin	yǎ	Ya

Readings from the character options in our name records; Unihan gives Mandarin yǎ and Cantonese ngaa5.

1 names that can be written with 雅

Ming Ya♀名雅 · 明雅 · 茗雅

3 syllables that can stand for 雅

Sources

Wiktionary: 雅 · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
MDBG: 雅 · mdbg.net · meaning
Unicode Unihan Database: U+96C5 · 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.

Frequently asked questions

What does 雅 mean in a name?

Our records give several meanings for 雅, including “elegant; refined; proper”. What a name actually means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine.

How is 雅 spelled in Malaysia?

In our records 雅 is spelled Ya (Mandarin), Ngah (Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka) and Nya (Teochew). A spelling follows a dialect’s romanization; it does not show which dialect anyone speaks.

Is every Ya written 雅?

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