李蓓兰 Lǐ Bèilán
- 李 lǐ Family name
- 蓓 bèi flower bud
- 兰 lán orchid
李 is a common family name; 蓓 and 兰 echo bǎo lā, how Chinese begins Paula (葆拉).

葆拉 Bǎolā
我叫葆拉。 Wǒ jiào Bǎolā. My name is Paula.
Paula en chino se escribe 葆拉 (Bǎolā).
李蓓兰 Lǐ Bèilán
李 is a common family name; 蓓 and 兰 echo bǎo lā, how Chinese begins Paula (葆拉).
张宝岚 Zhāng Bǎolán
张 is a common family name; 宝 and 岚 echo bǎo lā, how Chinese begins Paula (葆拉).
陈本兰 Chén Běnlán
陈 is a common family name; 本 and 兰 echo bǎo lā, how Chinese begins Paula (葆拉).
Add your last name for a family name that matches it.
HSK 1 · Now read them in a real story
中文
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中国
Paula is 葆拉 (Bǎolā) in Chinese. To say “My name is Paula”, say 我叫葆拉 (Wǒ jiào Bǎolā).
Nothing as a whole: Chinese picks 葆拉 for how it sounds, Bǎolā, close to Paula. On its own, 拉 means to pull.
Paula is written 葆拉, 2 characters: 葆 (12 strokes), 拉 (8 strokes). Each is drawn stroke by stroke on this page, in the order you write it.
By sound, with characters picked for how they are said: Michael is 迈克尔 (Màikè’ěr). Newspapers, subtitles and books use one usual form for each common name.
A name made the Chinese way: a one-character family name first, then one or two characters picked for their meaning. Many learners use one in class.
It’s a starting point. Ask a Chinese speaker or teacher before you put it on anything that lasts, like a tattoo or a document.
Meanings from our own dictionary. Chinese writes some names more than one way.