This is a simple write up on how Chinese names are structured in an ideal environment (i.e. not everyone follows). While most Chinese already know but this could be a foreign concept for those who live or grown up overseas. To learn more, you can do your research via the internet.
Traditionally, Chinese names consists of 3 characters. The first one is the surname. The middle one is the most interesting one because it is a character out of the Zi Bei. Then, the 3rd character is the name which you can name it random.
This usually starts with let me call a Generation Poem (Zi Bei) setup by our ancestors many generations back. It may contain say 40 different characters organized into a poem like for easy of memory. Then, the first generation will choose the first of the 40 characters as the middle character of their name and so on so forth. Because the relationship is embedded into the Generation Poem, two people with the same surname can tell if they are related and who is more seniority based on the middle character of the names alone!
