Character by character
Why it works
本 root, origin, source; basis; 汉 Chinese people; Chinese language. A given name a foreign resident of China actually took.
Why it reads this way
本汉 (Běn Hàn) is an editorial Chinese given name. 本 means root, origin, source; basis. 汉 means Chinese people; Chinese language. The feel is balanced, leaning male. It's a curated combination rather than a classical citation, so use it as a starting point and check the full name with a Chinese speaker.
Documented use
高本汉（Bernhard Karlgren），汉学家，名字由 自取 所取。Karlgren→高；'本汉'即'本是汉人'，曾对赵元任自述
This is one of the real Chinese names collected in our corpus of foreign residents' names; we list it because somebody actually uses it, not because it ranks in any popularity table.
Sound
The pinyin is Běn Hàn. Say it slowly, then at normal speed. If a tone feels difficult, practice the syllable alone before putting the full name together. A Chinese speaker will usually understand an imperfect tone in context, but the closer you get, the more natural the name feels.
How to introduce it
“My Chinese name is 本汉. 本 — root, origin, source; basis; 汉 — Chinese people; Chinese language.”
A common full-name pattern would be 李本汉 (Lǐ Běn Hàn), using the surname 李. You can also use no surname at all.
Source
外籍人士中文名语料库与频率统计.xlsx（本地整理；含台“内政部”户政司 2001-2015 结婚登记外籍人士中文名 Top10、新华社译名室《世界人名翻译大辞典》、人民日报海外版/光明网/环球时报及高校报道） · 高本汉 Bernhard Karlgren 汉学家
This page is editorial. A name can be a good fit even if it is not in our corpus; use the name checker for an existing name, or the Finder for a new one.