We built Stylish Name Maker because we knew what it felt like to have a name constantly simplified, mispronounced, or forgotten. Five years later, professionals across Asia and the world use it every day.
The Beginning
A conference in Singapore, and a quiet moment of enough.
In early 2020, our founder Lin was preparing for a regional marketing conference — the slides, the data, the speaking notes. What she hadn't prepared for was watching a moderator introduce her as "Linda" — a name that wasn't hers — because the programme had quietly replaced her Chinese name with something easier to announce.
She didn't make a scene. She gave her talk, got three speaking invitations from it, and flew home. But the moment stayed with her.
Why do so many of us with Asian names have to choose between being findable and being ourselves?
Five Years of Impact
| Year | Milestone | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The First Version | Lin builds a simple web app on a long-haul flight. Shares it with 12 colleagues on WeChat. |
| 2021 | Word of Mouth | Spreads across HR networks in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangalore. 8,000 users, zero ads. |
| 2022 | Bilingual Support | Native scripts for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Devanagari. A proper team joins. |
| 2023 | LinkedIn Integration | Region-aware auto-format suggestions. 200K users by year end. |
| 2024–25 | 2 Million Names | 40+ countries. Same mission as that Singapore flight home. |
Growing up with a name that didn't fit
Lin Mei grew up in Chengdu and moved to Singapore at 22 for a graduate programme in communications. Her name — two syllables, unremarkable in Mandarin — became an ongoing negotiation in English-speaking professional spaces. Some people mispronounced it. Some asked if she had an "English name." On every platform it appeared differently: sometimes romanised incorrectly, sometimes just cut off.
It wasn't a crisis. It was low-level friction that she, like millions of Asian professionals, had simply learned to absorb. Until the Singapore conference. Until "Linda."
That flight home, she opened her laptop and started building. No business plan, no market research — just one question: what would it look like if your name worked for you, not against you?
What We Believe
01. Names are not interchangeable
Simplifying someone's name for convenience is not a minor thing. We build every feature assuming the original name is correct, and that the tool's job is to serve it — not replace it.
02. Context matters more
What works on LinkedIn is different from a conference badge in Tokyo or a visiting card in Mumbai. We don't impose a single standard. We help you find the right format for the right room.
03. Visibility is not assimilation
Being discoverable and being yourself are not in conflict. We reject the idea that Asian professionals have to anglicise their names to be taken seriously.
Global Reach
Built for Asia, used across the world. Stylish Name Maker now supports over a dozen native scripts and naming conventions. The team is seventeen people across Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Mumbai, and Tokyo. Most joined because they'd been users first.