Recently I chatted with a learning partner from the Mixxer and she asked how she should call me. I feel the ned to share with you all how we call each other in Chinese, between peers, colleagues and friends. (There are other cases when you call superiors or elderly people but we won't talk about that this time.)

Let's say, my name is Wang Xiaoming and I have a female colleague named Zhang Xiaolan. I can call her: Zhang Xiaolan, or Xiao Lan, with the latter sounding closer. In some places (probably in norther China), people will call her Zhang. All will do.

You can be called Lan, but nornally only her husband, her parents and senior relatives, or her close female friends will do. Anybody else, especially of the other gender, calling her Lan will imply an intimate relationship. 

Same way, Zhang Xiaolan can call me: Wang Xiaoming, or Xiaoming.  Only my wife calls me Ming. In some cases, my parents or senior relatives might call me Ming. In northern China, people might call me Zhang only.

Finally, in Chinese the family name comes first, followed by the given name. It's probably in our culture, the family is placed in a higher position than individuals.

Usually, the family name is a single-character name, like Zhou, Zhang, Li, etc. But there are double or even triple character family names, like Ouyang, Zhuge, etc. As for the given name, there are single-character name, as "Ming" in Li Ming. There are double-character given names, like "Xiaolan" in Zhang Xiaolan.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding Chinese culture.