I understand they are not changed at marriage
That is, is the last name always the same as the father’s?
Or is it the first name, like some other Asian countries.
And do they ever have middle names?
If they are Christian?
The wife generally takes the husband’s family name.
Chinese naming conventions are different from European, but relatively straightforward. I’m sure you know that the family name goes first.
When a boy is born, he is given a “milk name” that their family uses to refer to them. It is never used by outsiders. A few months later, he is given his given name (Let’s use “Chiang” in this example). When he reaches adulthood, he would choose a zi – a style name related to their given name. He would refer to himself by the given name, but peers would use the zi. They would introduce themselves as “My name in Wen Chiang and my zi is Xianzi.” Friends would then say, “Hello, Xanzi.”
Those who reach a position of honor may add a hao name – sort of a literary pseudonym, which replaces the zi.
It’s similar for a girl, except they take the zi when they are married. She also takes her husband’s name. Thus, prior to marriage, she might be Han Hongye. Once she is married to Wen Chaing, she becomes Wen Hongye and chooses a zi. She would introduce herself by saying “I am Wen Hongye and my zi is Chiju.” Peers would call her Chiju; outsiders would call her Mrs. Wen.
(Thanks to Nick Huang: if he’s lurking, he can correct what I misinterpreted).
I should add that Chinese family names are always one syllable, and given names and zi are two syllables (other than names from ancient Chinese history).
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What do you mean “created”? Marriage typically has nothing to do with the creation of surnames, The children of a father named Smith are still named Smith, this is typically no different in Chinese. Of course sometimes it varies. So if your second question is “What is the convention for the last names of Chinese Children?”, then the answer is exactly the same as it is in English.
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I’ve noticed Chinese immigrants to the west will often take up a “Christian” first name, and retain their Chinese first name in the form of middle initials on their documents. I don’t think this has anything to do the religious background of the person, but I’m not particularly familiar with this practice myself.
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What RealityChuck describes was loosely accurate back in the 19th century, the additional titles and such were generally only used by men of high social status and rarely by women. AFAIK nobody today still observes this convention. It was still somewhat used during the time of my grandparents (b. 1920s), as Mao Ze Dong and Chiang Kai Shek were still often referred to by their “Zi”, but my grandparents themselves never used it and neither did my parents.
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Women in writing will often be refered to only by their (maiden) family name, with the additional note that they are their husband’s wife. This is one way to idicate their status as property, subhumans not in need of an individual given name. More recently they can also be referred to as “Madame/Mrs. (Husband’s name)”, but I’ve never heard of the Western usage of substituting hubby’s name entirely when referring to the wife, in the “Mary Smith nee. Jones” type of way.
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Family names CAN be two characters (syllables), common ones include “Ou-Yang/Au-Yeung” and “Seto/Situ”. They are not as common as single syllable names, but I’m sure a Chinatown phonebook will have at least a few. People with two syllable surnames typically have one syllable first names, as a complete name with three characters will tend so sound a little more melodious and flow a little better, but four character names are not unheard of.
Thanks. This is going to take some study. No wonder my friends seem to get mail in unfamiliar names.
First, let’s set the context. My answers basically cover modern mainland Chinese practice (but it’s generally not different in Taiwan and Hong Kong). Practices among the 4th generation Chinese in the West may vary. I won’t speak to exceptions or practices from a couple hundred years ago.
There are only about IIRC 200 commonly recognized family names. Wang and Chen being two very common ones. I don’t remember the exact number, and of course there are exceptions especially from the non Han Chinese. The basic family name list covers about 99% of all Chinese. Every once in a while, I’ll get a name card of someone with a very unique Chinese family name, but it’s pretty rare. There is no common practice of creating a new family name. Even if one were to change their family name legally, it would be to one of the 200 commonly recognized names.
In Chinese, the family name comes first. The Family name is generally one syllable but can be two syllables. Si-ma is an example of a two syllable family name. Si-ma Qian wrote “History” one of the Chinese classics. General practice is that Chinese have a Family name, generational name, and then their unique name. Let’s use John Paul JONES as an example. So, in Chinese it would be JONES John Paul.
The family name can follow either the father or the mother’s side, with the father being more common. This was especially pronounced during the cultural revolution and aftermath. Wives generally are no longer a footnote to their husband. The kids of JONES John Paul would have the family name of JONES or take their mother’s family name.
The first name is a generational name. That is, generally all kids of that generation will have this same first name. Generational names are contained in the traditional family register (which is often lost to history these days). [Historically the family register only listed males.] The register will have a poem, special essay or something similar as a naming guide, and each generation uses the next name in the list. When doing family trees, then it’s much easier to trace just from the name of who is related to whom, even without the ages listed. JOHNS John Paul siblings might be John Mark, John Luke and John Matthew.
At least in my kids case, the was no generational naming guide or convention. We used “Jade” (Yu). They were also the first kids of their generation. None of their later born cousins use Jade, but picked a different generational name that will be common to those siblings (assuming they go beyond the one child policy).
The middle name is unique to the child (but the child shares the generational first name with same sex siblings & cousins). For example, my daughters are Jade Sky, Jade Purity, & Jade Green.
Today, babies are usually named at birth. Generally, like in the west the baby names are usually picked out in advance. Sometimes, a buddhist monk will select the name. The milk name practice is not common these days, at least in the cities. May still be in the countryside where mortality rates are significantly higher. There are childhood/buddy nicknames. Most kids have their middle name doubled (“John” would be called “John John” or a form an equivalent to “Johnnie”)
As for the ‘zi’ naming convention. I think this went out with bound feet. Seriously, in 20 years in China, HOng Kong and Taiwan, I have never once encountered this practice. Definately, very common people to go by a nickname but this is not the same as a ‘zi’ name. Same with the “hao” name honorific. The common honorific is “lao”, which literally is ‘old’ but really means something like ‘respected elder’ ‘respected expert’.
There are areas of China where there is no generational name. People only have on name rather than a generational name and personal name. This is very common practice in Shanghai for example.
The wife may or may not change her name legally after marriage to her husbands. Also rare but not uncommon for the husband to take his wife’s family name. The pre-marriage family name is usally the most common on the “hu kou” or official family registration document. It is common practice for the wife to use her husbands family name unofficially but still retain her family name officially. "I’m Mrs JONES but the driver’s license still says Ms CHRISTIAN.
What, nobody’s going to bring up the old chestnut about throwing a box of silverware down a flight of stairs? 
As for the origin of the surnames, they usually reflects the geographic location where the clans come from, their occupation or in some events, bestowed by an Emperor. Take for instance “Zuo” - it means the direction “left” and IIRC, it refers to historians. If I am not wrong, historians were known as “left officials” in the court, and hence after some time they took that as their surname.
Here’s a link to a site which details some of the more common ones: