Chinese character Hào

It means the broad, bright sky.

An early form of 昊 appears among inscriptions catalogued on the Shi Qiang pan, a Western Zhou bronze vessel dated about 917–900 BCE.

In Mandarin pinyin input, hao or hao4 can produce several written candidates. In classical writing, 昊天 names vast heaven. The Book of Odes, an early Chinese poetry collection, uses it in a hymn about Heaven’s established mandate—the belief that heaven authorizes a ruler’s power. The Zhouli, a classical text on ritual and state offices, pairs 昊天上帝 with state sacrifice. That gives 昊 both a sky meaning and formal weight in ideas about heaven and rulership.

What does 昊 mean in a Chinese name?

It usually evokes an expansive sky, not a prayer.

As of 2026, Chinese naming references list 昊 as a given-name character.

Read the full name before settling its tone: the other character and the language matter. Japanese dictionaries list コウ (kō, a long “o”) and そら (sora, “sky”) as readings, so the glyph can sound different in Japanese than in Mandarin. The classical echo is real, but a name containing 昊 is not by itself a religious statement.

Why does 昊天 sound formal?

昊天 belongs to classical and ritual language.

Classical descriptions set 昊天 beside 苍天, a blue or dark heaven, and 旻天, a name for heaven in autumn. Those set phrases make the compound sound literary and formal; 昊 alone can simply name the sky or appear in a personal name.