There is really no particular pool for naming in Chinese. Family name comes first, which almost always inherit from father. It is strongly believed last name carry on the family. However, it is legal to name child with mother's last name after negotiation in Taiwan. Someone told me, in China, parents can pick a completely irrelevant family name. Pick up non father's last name is still not very common and bring up issue of fighting for heritage property and family belonging. Some families practice certain rule according to family tree: for certain generations, their middle character or the first character of the first name is set to certain character. Others, parents can pick any character they like, usually bring positive meanings. Some parents just open a dictionary and pick characters they like. Some parents go for a fortune teller and look for a name would bring their child good fortune. 1 character and 2 characters in first name is common practice. 1 characters for the family name and sometime 2 with exception some indigenous non Han people may have a different set up.
