girl’s name
Mary in Chinese
玛丽
mǎ lì · traditional 瑪麗
Mary is usually written 玛丽 in Chinese, pronounced mǎ lì. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Mary, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 玛 | mǎ | third (dipping) tone | agate; cornelian | 瑪 |
| 丽 | lì | fourth (falling) tone | beautiful, magnificent, elegant | 麗 |
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 Mary in Chinese
How do you write Mary in Chinese?
Mary is usually written 玛丽 in Chinese, pronounced mǎ lì. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Mary, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 玛丽?
玛丽 is pronounced mǎ lì: mǎ in the third (dipping) tone and lì in the fourth (falling) tone.
How do you write Mary in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is written 瑪麗.
Is 玛丽 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name Mary, 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.