威（wei）
Name meaning
威 (Wei) means dignified power; authority. As a given-name character, it is best read through image, temperament and pairing logic: dignified power should become a person-like quality, not a plain word-list entry.
Practical naming use
威 (Wei) is read as wei and carries the core meaning of dignified power; authority. In a Chinese given name, it should be treated as a focused semantic signal rather than decoration: the character gives the name a recognizable image, a Mandarin sound and a cultural direction. For English speakers, it works best when the second character clarifies the personality behind the image, so the full two-character given name feels explainable, natural and not randomly translated. Its Metal element label is based on meaning and imagery, not on a fortune claim.
Pair 威 (Wei) with characters that make the image more human: clarity for intellectual names, cultural characters for refinement, calm characters for steadiness, and spacious characters for scale. Avoid a second character that repeats the same idea too closely.
威明 (Weiming): Wei contributes dignified power, authority; Ming adds brightness, clarity.
Historical / name-use references
窦威 (Dou Wei)
Dou Wei was a Sui-Tang statesman and scholar. His name directly contains the target character, giving it a premodern political and learned anchor.