In the modern world, Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages. It is not only the official language of the PRC, but also the official language of the Republic of Singapore. For historical and cultural reasons, the Chinese language has spread not only in the countries of Southeast Asia, where it is the language of communication, education of immigrants from China (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, etc.), but also in Europe and America. The study of the issue of the nomination of the Chinese language is based on a detailed analysis of the data available in the studies of both Chinese and foreign Sinologists, in particular Russians. In addition, the collected data were compared with lexicographic data. When analyzing the data, the provision was taken into account that both written and spoken language can have several historical forms with their own names.