You can use this 4 pillars calculator to see your own Bazi 八字 birth chart. Chinese naming method requires a little knowledge of a person's astrology chart.

Bazi 八字 is a Chinese astrology method for life forecasting. It is literally translated as 8 characters. Also known as 4 pillars because of the way they are shown - Year, month, day and hour. Each pillar has 2 characters made up of a Heavenly Stem (top) and an Earthly Branch (bottom). The Earthly Branches are also the 12 Chinese zodiac animals.

In Chinese naming method, the four pillars are important. We need to see the strength of the elements the person is born with. Naming method was invented for naming babies. And most parents will think of a name for the baby while the mother is conceiving. Therefore sometimes, we have no idea of the baby's birth chart yet. We only know roughly the month and year the baby will be born in. The year and month pillars determined the seasonal strength. If there is no day or time pillars known yet, then the most important things to know, at least, are the year and month pillars.

There are 60 Chinese year pillars. From the year pillar, we can find out the Nayin. This is an important element that we will take into consideration for the baby's name.

Perhaps you just want to know what your Chinese year zodiac is. You can also use this tool. Just see what animal is shown in the year pillar using the calculator.

1. Set your date of birth and time. Use your own local time.

2. Click on the 'Calculate' button.

3. There! You will get your 4 pillars chart.

There are 5 elements and you will see this below the top row Chinese characters. They are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth.

The + or - sign appearing next to the elements tells you whether it is a yin or yang element.

Some people look at the overall chart and then say "oh, this chart is lacking the fire element." And they then give the baby a name that has fiery characters in it. I do not subscribe to this idea.

In baby naming method, we want the name to suit the baby's own Nayin element. And also to complement the parents' Zodiac. In the case above, having more fiery characters that disagree with the Nayin element may not be ideal too. We have to look at the overall picture.