boy’s name
James in Chinese
詹姆斯
zhān mǔ sī
James is usually written 詹姆斯 in Chinese, pronounced zhān mǔ sī. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like James, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 詹 | zhān | first (high, level) tone | surname; talk too much, verbose | 詹 |
| 姆 | mǔ | third (dipping) tone | child's governess; matron | 姆 |
| 斯 | sī | first (high, level) tone | this, thus, such; to lop off | 斯 |
Readings and meanings come from the Unicode Han Database (Unihan). In a transliterated name, the meanings of the characters are not read as a sentence.
Questions about James in Chinese
How do you write James in Chinese?
James is usually written 詹姆斯 in Chinese, pronounced zhān mǔ sī. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like James, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 詹姆斯?
詹姆斯 is pronounced zhān mǔ sī: zhān in the first (high, level) tone, mǔ in the third (dipping) tone and sī in the first (high, level) tone.
How do you write James in traditional Chinese?
The same way: 詹姆斯 uses no simplified characters, so it is also written 詹姆斯 in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Is 詹姆斯 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name James, so Chinese readers will recognise it as a foreign name. If you would like a name that looks Chinese, our free generator also suggests names chosen for their meaning.
How do Chinese transliterations work? Read how we choose your Chinese name.