Are people's names always pronounced the same in Mandarin?

Question

In many languages, you can not be really sure how to pronounce a person's name, so you have to ask them first, and remember. For instance, "Broglie" can be brɔɪ or brɔˈgli, "中島" can be Nakashima or Nakajima.

Newbie question: Are there any Chinese names with different pronunciations in Mandarin?
If yes, what percentage of the population has such ambiguous names?

Or do all Chinese names have only one possible reading in Mandarin?

Answer 1

Or do all Chinese names have only one possible reading in Mandarin?

No.

Apart from first names (when 多音字 (polyphone) is used they might pronounce differently), even for the last names, there're some (not much) with different pronunciations. Note that these names with different pronunciations almost means different origins. That means you have to confirm with the person about the pronunciation of his/her given name; on the other hand, if you know that you could get more informations, like how the name originated (from where or from who), and the informations about his/her ancestors. e.g.

费（Bì，  Fèi）
覃（Tán， Xún， Qín）
郗（Chī， Xī）
贲（Bēn， Féi）
隗（Kuí， Wěi）
郇（Xún， Huán）
乐（Lè，  Yuè）
召（Shào，Zhào）

References:
这些姓氏你能正确读音吗？（汇编）
「費」姓該怎麼讀？
一个可能被误读的姓 乐姓

Answer 2

The pronunciation is the same for the last names.

For example, 華 must be pronounced as huà for the family name.

When it is in the first name, it can be pronounced as huā, huá or huà. They can decide it, so we have to ask for the correct pronunciation.

Answer 3

The pronunciation of a Chinese name is unique in almost all cases. Here are few particular cases.

1. There are very few Chinese polyphonic family names, like the above example 覃, it pronounced qín in 90% of the cases, meantime, it also pronounced tán as a family name. This case is rare.
2. There are also few Chinese family names are polyphonic characters, one pronunciation is used for family name only. Like my family name 贾/賈, pronounce jiǎ as a family name, pronounce gǔ in other cases, as well as 单/單, 朴/樸, 仇, etc. Almost all people pronounce these names right.
3. There are very very very few Chinese family names are made up with two characters at least, like 上官, 诸葛/諸葛, 司马/司馬, etc. A few characters may pronounce differently in different names. 万俟 is a family name, pronounced as mò qí, and 尉迟 pronounced as yǜ chí, but, the family name 万/萬, pronounced as wàn, also, the family name 尉, pronounced as wèi or yǜ as a one-character family name. This case is extremely rare, people may mistake the pronunciation.
4. There are also polyphonic characters in given name, like 茜, 朝. When these characters appears in a person's name, most people may choose a common pronunciation first if they don't know which is right, or ask him/her directly or other persons.

Answer 4

The Chinese names are unique and different in most cases, there are first name and the last name when Chinese choose a name for their kids. so Generally, a Chinese name is composed of two or three characters, Most people tend to have a well-known Chinese family name, and this post will introduce the most popular Chinese family names for you.http://www.hanbridgemandarin.com/article/chinese-learning-tips/most-common-chinese-family-names/

and here you can know the most common and best chinese names for boys,http://www.hanbridgemandarin.com/article/chinese-learning-tips/chinese-name-for-boys

Answer 5

1. Family names always have a fixed pronunciation, inherited from ancestry.
2. For given names, different pronunciations are possible, if a heteronym (多音字) is used. The actual pronunciation depends on the creator of the name.
3. Parents would avoid to use 多音字 in children's names to keep away from trouble in the future. Because unlike Japanese, Chinese do not list Pinyin in most documents or forms.