About the name Li
Chinese surname 李 — the imperial name of the Tang dynasty, said to come from the plum tree it means. Today one of the most common surnames on earth: a plum blossom pressed in every family genealogy.
Li in Chinese: 李
In Chinese, Li is written 李 and read lǐ. The plum tree — China’s most common surname.
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Weathering
How worn the ink looks — 0% is a fresh stamp, 100% is eroded stone.
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李, character by character
- 李lǐ
- The plum tree; China’s most common surname. Wood beneath a child — growth under nurture.
The surname: Of Ying blood, from a long line of judges of the Zhou era — the surname reads 理 (justice) until a family fleeing trouble took refuge in the plant 李 and let the character swap its crown for a tree. Li Er — Laozi, the old master of the Dao — carries it early; four centuries of Tang emperors claimed him as ancestor, and the surname has ranked first or second in China ever since. Full 李 page →
Single-surname seal: pair with 之印 to fill four squares.
Li in Chinese: questions
How do you write Li in Chinese characters?
Li is written 李 in Mandarin. The characters are chosen to carry the sound and the sense of Li rather than to transliterate it letter by letter, which is how Chinese names are actually made. On this page the seal is carved in the Zhongshan King (中山王) bronze-inscription seal script, with the Academia Sinica Chongxi Small Seal (崇羲篆體) filling any character the main font lacks.
What does the Chinese name 李 mean?
李 breaks down as 李 (lǐ) — The plum tree; China’s most common surname. Wood beneath a child — growth under nurture. The seal note we would put under it: Single-surname seal: pair with 之印 to fill four squares.
How is 李 pronounced?
Pinyin: lǐ — 李 is tone 3 (a dip down and back up). Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone, and getting them wrong is the most common mistake Western speakers make with Chinese names — the seal itself is unaffected, since the carving is of the written form.
Is 李 a real Chinese surname?
Yes. 李 (lǐ) is one of the recorded Chinese surnames. Of Ying blood, from a long line of judges of the Zhou era — the surname reads 理 (justice) until a family fleeing trouble took refuge in the plant 李 and let the character swap its crown for a tree. Li Er — Laozi, the old master of the Dao — carries it early; four centuries of Tang emperors claimed him as ancestor, and the surname has ranked first or second in China ever since. The full account, with the character’s own etymology, is on the 李 surname page — and that lineage is the reason a Western name can borrow the character for a surname at all.
Which other names use the same characters as 李?
1 other name on this site carries at least one of the same character — 李敖 for Leo. Chinese names combine a family name with one or two given-name characters, so a single character can carry a hundred different people; the character page above lists every name that uses it.
What is the story behind the name Li?
Chinese surname 李 — the imperial name of the Tang dynasty, said to come from the plum tree it means. Today one of the most common surnames on earth: a plum blossom pressed in every family genealogy. The full account — the etymology, the bearers, and why this site renders it as 李 — is in the section above.
What is a Chinese name seal?
A Chinese seal (印, yìn) is the 3,000-year-old answer to the signature: a carved stamp, classically in red cinnabar ink, pressed onto documents, paintings and letters. A name seal carries your name in seal script (篆書) — the calligraphic style of the Qin dynasty. Traditionally two kinds: 朱文 (characters in red) and 白文 (characters in white, carved out of a solid red field).
Our generator transliterates your English name into a real Chinese name — not just sounds, but characters chosen for meaning — then carves it with an authentic seal-script font. Export is a transparent PNG you can stamp into documents, art, or tattoos.
Names related to Li
Related to Li: 1 shares a character with 李; the rest sounds close to it in Mandarin.
FAQ
What is SealsCrafter?
SealsCrafter (sealscrafter.com) is a free Chinese name seal generator: it transliterates your English name into a real Chinese name — characters chosen for sound and meaning — then carves it as an authentic seal (印章) in genuine seal script. You export a transparent PNG instantly: no sign-up, no watermark, no cost. The carving uses the Zhongshan King (中山王) bronze-inscription seal script, supplemented by the Academia Sinica Chongxi Small Seal (崇羲篆體) for characters the main font lacks.
What is a Chinese name seal?
A personal stamp — classically a small stone engraved with your name in seal script and pressed in red cinnabar ink — used in China, Japan and Korea for 3,000 years in place of a signature. Full guide: what is a Chinese name seal.
What is the difference between 朱文 and 白文?
朱文 (zhūwén) prints the characters in red on paper; 白文 (báiwén) prints them white out of a solid red field. Both are authentic modes of carving — see zhuwen vs baiwen. Both are one click away in the generator above.
Is it a seal, a chop or a stamp?
Seal (印章) is the carved stone; a chop is the same object called by its Anglo-Indian colonial-era name (from Hindi chhāp, common in Hong Kong and Singapore); a stamp is usually the modern rubber office version. More: seal vs chop vs stamp.
Is it really free?
Yes — free, no login, no watermark. Ad-supported.
What font does it use?
The Zhongshan King seal script (中山王篆), a Warring-States bronze-inscription style, released under the SIL Open Font License.
Can I use the PNG commercially?
The seal design is yours to use. The font is OFL-licensed; exporting the image is fine for any personal or commercial use.