boy’s name
Nicholas in Chinese
尼古拉斯
ní gǔ lā sī
Nicholas is usually written 尼古拉斯 in Chinese, pronounced ní gǔ lā sī. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Nicholas, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 尼 | ní | second (rising) tone | Buddhist nun; transliteration | 尼 |
| 古 | gǔ | third (dipping) tone | old, classic, ancient | 古 |
| 拉 | lā | first (high, level) tone | pull, drag; seize, hold | 拉 |
| 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 Nicholas in Chinese
How do you write Nicholas in Chinese?
Nicholas is usually written 尼古拉斯 in Chinese, pronounced ní gǔ lā sī. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Nicholas, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 尼古拉斯?
尼古拉斯 is pronounced ní gǔ lā sī: ní in the second (rising) tone, gǔ in the third (dipping) tone, lā in the first (high, level) tone and sī in the first (high, level) tone.
How do you write Nicholas in traditional Chinese?
The same way: 尼古拉斯 uses no simplified characters, so it is also written 尼古拉斯 in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Is 尼古拉斯 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name Nicholas, 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.