Names are an important type of vocabulary. In China, you will run into the same surnames again and again, so it helps to become familiar with the most common ones. You’ll rarely meet a Chinese person with a surname not in this list of 100.
| Rank | Chinese | Pinyin |
| 1. | 李 | Lǐ |
| 2. | 王 | Wáng |
| 3. | 张 | Zhāng |
| 4. | 刘 | Liú |
| 5. | 陈 | Chén |
| 6. | 杨 | Yáng |
| 7. | 赵 | Zhào |
| 8. | 黄 | Huáng |
| 9. | 周 | Zhōu |
| 10. | 吴 | Wú |
| 11. | 徐 | Xú |
| 12. | 孙 | Sūn |
| 13. | 胡 | Hú |
| 14. | 朱 | Zhū |
| 15. | 高 | Gāo |
| 16. | 林 | Lín |
| 17. | 何 | Hé |
| 18. | 郭 | Guō |
| 19. | 马 | Mǎ |
| 20. | 罗 | Luó |
| 21. | 梁 | Liáng |
| 22. | 宋 | Sòng |
| 23. | 郑 | Zhèng |
| 24. | 谢 | Xiè |
| 25. | 韩 | Hán |
| 26. | 唐 | Táng |
| 27. | 冯 | Féng |
| 28. | 于 | Yú |
| 29. | 董 | Dǒng |
| 30. | 萧 | Xiāo |
| 31. | 程 | Chéng |
| 32. | 曹 | Cáo |
| 33. | 袁 | Yuán |
| 34. | 邓 | Dèng |
| 35. | 许 | Xǔ |
| 36. | 傅 | Fù |
| 37. | 沈 | Shěn |
| 38. | 曾 | Zēng |
| 39. | 彭 | Péng |
| 40. | 吕 | Lǚ |
| 41. | 苏 | Sū |
| 42. | 卢 | Lú |
| 43. | 蒋 | Jiǎng |
| 44. | 蔡 | Cài |
| 45. | 贾 | Jiǎ |
| 46. | 丁 | Dīng |
| 47. | 魏 | Wèi |
| 48. | 薛 | Xuē |
| 49. | 叶 | Yè |
| 50. | 阎 | Yán |
| 51. | 余 | Yú |
| 52. | 潘 | Pān |
| 53. | 杜 | Dù |
| 54. | 戴 | Dài |
| 55. | 夏 | Xià |
| 56. | 钟 | Zhōng |
| 57. | 汪 | Wāng |
| 58. | 田 | Tián |
| 59. | 任 | Rén |
| 60. | 姜 | Jiāng |
| 61. | 范 | Fàn |
| 62. | 方 | Fāng |
| 63. | 石 | Shí |
| 64. | 姚 | Yáo |
| 65. | 谭 | Tán |
| 66. | 盛 | Shèng |
| 67. | 邹 | Zōu |
| 68. | 熊 | Xióng |
| 69. | 金 | Jīn |
| 70. | 陆 | Lù |
| 71. | 郝 | Hǎo |
| 72. | 孔 | Kǒng |
| 73. | 白 | Bái |
| 74. | 崔 | Cuī |
| 75. | 康 | Kāng |
| 76. | 毛 | Máo |
| 77. | 邱 | Qiū |
| 78. | 秦 | Qín |
| 79. | 江 | Jiāng |
| 80. | 史 | Shǐ |
| 81. | 顾 | Gù |
| 82. | 侯 | Hóu |
| 83. | 邵 | Shào |
| 84. | 孟 | Mèng |
| 85. | 龙 | Lóng |
| 86. | 万 | Wàn |
| 87. | 段 | Duàn |
| 88. | 章 | Zhāng |
| 89. | 钱 | Qián |
| 90. | 汤 | Tāng |
| 91. | 尹 | Yǐn |
| 92. | 黎 | Lí |
| 93. | 易 | Yì |
| 94. | 常 | Cháng |
| 95. | 武 | Wǔ |
| 96. | 乔 | Qiáo |
| 97. | 贺 | Hè |
| 98. | 赖 | Lài |
| 99. | 龚 | Gōng |
| 100. | 文 | Wén |
CREDITS: This list is based on a page containing the 100 most common names on Mingba.cn. That page also contains lots of less common names, along with pinyin. Check it out.