Chinese surname stroke counts (Kangxi)
Your surname sets the Heaven grid and feeds into the Person grid. Below are common Taiwanese surnames sorted by Kangxi stroke count, with pinyin for reference; if yours is not listed, the calculator further down will look it up.
Who this is for: this system works only on names written in Chinese characters. If you have a Chinese name, or are choosing one, enter it in characters (traditional forms) and the calculator explains the result in English. It cannot be applied to names in the Latin alphabet.
Common single-character surnames (by strokes)
| Strokes | Surnames | Heaven grid (strokes + 1) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 丁 Ding | 3 |
| 4 | 王 Wang, 方 Fang, 尤 You | 5 |
| 5 | 石 Shi, 古 Gu, 田 Tian, 白 Bai | 6 |
| 6 | 朱 Zhu | 7 |
| 7 | 李 Li, 吳 Wu, 呂 Lü, 江 Jiang, 何 He, 余 Yu, 宋 Song, 杜 Du, 巫 Wu | 8 |
| 8 | 林 Lin, 周 Zhou, 沈 Shen, 汪 Wang, 卓 Zhuo | 9 |
| 9 | 施 Shi, 柯 Ke, 侯 Hou, 紀 Ji, 姚 Yao | 10 |
| 10 | 洪 Hong, 徐 Xu, 高 Gao, 翁 Weng, 孫 Sun, 唐 Tang, 馬 Ma, 袁 Yuan | 11 |
| 11 | 張 Zhang, 許 Xu, 胡 Hu, 梁 Liang, 范 Fan, 曹 Cao, 康 Kang, 涂 Tu | 12 |
| 12 | 黃 Huang, 曾 Zeng, 邱 Qiu, 彭 Peng, 傅 Fu, 程 Cheng, 馮 Feng, 童 Tong | 13 |
| 13 | 楊 Yang, 莊 Zhuang, 游 You, 詹 Zhan | 14 |
| 14 | 廖 Liao, 趙 Zhao, 溫 Wen, 連 Lian | 15 |
| 15 | 劉 Liu, 郭 Guo, 葉 Ye, 董 Dong | 16 |
| 16 | 陳 Chen, 賴 Lai, 盧 Lu, 潘 Pan | 17 |
| 17 | 蔡 Cai, 謝 Xie, 鍾 Zhong, 戴 Dai, 蔣 Jiang, 鄒 Zou | 18 |
| 18 | 蕭 Xiao, 簡 Jian, 顏 Yan, 魏 Wei | 19 |
| 19 | 鄭 Zheng, 鄧 Deng, 薛 Xue | 20 |
| 20 | 羅 Luo | 21 |
| 22 | 蘇 Su | 23 |
This is not a population ranking, only a stroke reference for common surnames. Pinyin is given for reference; many Taiwanese families romanize differently (Chang for 張, Tsai for 蔡, Hsu for 許, and so on).
Compound surnames
| Surname | Strokes of each character | Heaven grid (added) |
|---|---|---|
| 歐陽 Ouyang | 15 + 17 | 32 |
| 司馬 Sima | 5 + 10 | 15 |
| 諸葛 Zhuge | 16 + 15 | 31 |
| 上官 Shangguan | 3 + 8 | 11 |
| 范姜 Fanjiang | 11 + 9 | 20 |
| 張簡 Zhangjian | 11 + 18 | 29 |
Taiwanese double surnames such as 張簡 (Zhangjian) and 范姜 (Fanjiang) are counted with the compound-surname rule.
Five Grids calculator
Enter a Chinese surname and given name in characters (traditional forms). The calculator looks up the Kangxi stroke count of each character and works out the Heaven, Person, Earth, Outer and Total grids and the San Cai elements, explained in English. If a character is missing or you follow another counting school, you can edit the strokes yourself. Everything is calculated in your browser.
Strokes follow the Kangxi Dictionary with radicals restored to their full form (氵 counts 4, 艹 counts 6 …); the numerals one to ten count as their value. Character data derived from the Unicode Unihan database.
Common misconceptions
Your surname's strokes decide your luck.
In the Five Grids the surname only sets the Heaven grid, which is read as the influence of ancestors and elders, and tradition says the Heaven grid is not judged lucky or unlucky at all.
陳 has 11 strokes.
It is written in 11, but name numerology restores the left 阝 to 阜 (8), so 陳 counts 16.
A straight word: the Five Grids are a modern Japanese method, not an ancient one
The popular Five Grids method (Heaven, Person, Earth, Outer and Total grids read against the 81 numbers) was put together by the Japanese author Kumasaki Kenō in the early 20th century and later became common in Taiwan. It is not a classical Chinese tradition, and schools disagree both on how to count strokes and on which numbers are lucky. What makes a name good is its meaning, its sound, how it feels to write, and what it means to you; none of that is measured by strokes. We don't recommend changing a name because of an "unlucky" number. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Add a given name and calculate
Enter a full Chinese name to get all Five Grids and the San Cai.
Surname stroke FAQ
How many strokes are 陳, 林 and 黃 in name numerology?
陳 (Chen) 16, 林 (Lin) 8, 黃 (Huang) 12.
How is the Heaven grid calculated for a compound surname?
Add the two characters together; for example 歐陽 (Ouyang) is 15 + 17 = 32.