Majority of Chinese newborn babies in 2019 receive three-character names

BEIJING - A majority, or 93.2 percent, of newborn babies in China in 2019 received three-character names, 4.5 percent two-character names and 1.7 percent four-character names, according to a report released by the Ministry of Public Security Monday.

As of Dec 31, 2019, around 11.79 million babies born last year had registered with the ministry, figures from the report show.

The report on Chinese names in 2019 is based on an analysis of the statistics from China's population information system, which is the world's largest, covering the nation's 1.4 billion people.

Last year, the 10 most popular characters used for baby names were Zi, Zi (written with a different character from another Zi), Yu, Ze, Han, Chen, Jia, Yi, Xin and Yu (written with a different character from another Yu).

For baby boys, the most popular first name was Haoyu, meaning "vast universe," with 20,102 being given the name; for baby girls, Yinuo, which usually means "being true to one's word," ranked first, with 27,778 receiving it as a first name, according to the report.