Early forms of 名 combine 夕, a crescent-moon or evening sign, with 口, a mouth or opening. A traditional explanation imagines someone saying their name so they can be identified in the dark. Another scholarly reading treats the upper element as an old sound clue related to 明. Because the original logic is debated, this oracle-inspired sketch keeps the securely attested crescent above a mouth without presenting either explanation as certain.
A piece of culture
The name beside 字 名字 means “name”: míngzi in Mandarin and ming4 zi6 in Cantonese. You already know 字 as a written character, so the pair is easy to remember. 名 can also mean a given name, especially when it is contrasted with 姓, the family name. Together they let you move from reading characters to introducing a real person.