How to say "what's your name?" in Chinese

When To Use It

"what's your name?" maps to 你叫什么名字？ (nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?), a neutral classroom phrase for introductions situations.

Use it during first meetings, classroom roll call, social icebreakers, or any moment when you are quickly identifying yourself.

Practice it first exactly as written, then swap in your own people, places, or objects so it becomes part of your active speaking repertoire.

Tone And Delivery

The register is neutral, which makes it flexible: safe in most daily situations without sounding stiff or overly intimate.

Because this is marked beginner, you should aim to recognize it instantly and reuse it with your own names, nouns, locations, or numbers.

A good practice target is the example sentence 你好，你叫什么名字？ (nǐ hǎo, nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?). Once that feels natural, shorten your pause and try it at conversation speed.

Practice Ideas

This phrase becomes more useful when you learn it as part of a mini-sequence. After saying it, a natural next step could be 我叫…… (wǒ jiào...).

A second nearby phrase to review is 我们开始吧 (wǒmen kāishǐ ba), which helps you stay in the same topic instead of translating from scratch again.

• Read the example “Hi, what's your name?” aloud, then replace one detail with your own information.
• Pair it with “My name is ...” next so your conversation does not stop after a single line.
• Match the phrase to your tone of voice: soft for polite requests, flatter and quicker for routine daily use.
• If you hear a slightly different version in the wild, compare the tone and context before treating it as interchangeable.