Henry is a regal, classic name meaning 'ruler.' Its Chinese versions lean strong and fortunate — 亨瑞 echoes the sound and means good fortune; 刚毅 is firm and resolute.
亨 ('hēng') means smooth-going and prosperous and opens the classic Chinese 'Hen-'; 瑞 ('ruì') echoes the '-ry' and means a fortunate sign. Recognizable as Henry, and a wish for good fortune.
The left side of 瑞 is 王, the jade radical — in early script, this was drawn as three horizontal lines connected by a vertical…
Read the full story of 瑞 →亨利 is the established Chinese name for Henry — the form used for kings and famous names. 亨 itself means smooth-going and prosperous.
For Henry's regal, ruling strength: 刚 is firm and principled, 毅 is resolve. An unbending, leaderly name.
The traditional form 剛 is built from two elements: 冈 (gāng), the ridgeline of a mountain, and 刂, the blade radical.
Read the full story of 刚 →The character 毅 contains 豕 (shǐ, wild boar) in its lower portion — an animal that early Chinese observers described as one that…
Read the full story of 毅 →Origin: Germanic. Home ruler; estate ruler.
Henry comes from a Germanic root meaning home ruler — a name of kings and steady, classic dignity. It has never gone out of style.
In Chinese, Henry’s familiar writing begins with 亨, which itself means smooth-going and prosperous. Stronger still is a version meaning firm and resolute — the bearing of a leader. Each character is brushed by hand on rice paper.
Each of these characters has its own story — etymology, cultural weight, and how a native speaker reads it. Tap through to the full entry.
Any of these can be hand-brushed by Artist Lina Sun on rice paper — one character at a time, never printed, never repeated.
Order a hand-brushed name →