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• Don't say,  “Good morning, Mr. John.” The words Mr., Miss, Mrs. and Ms. are only used before a person's surname and “John” is not (usually) a surname. The examiner usually just says his or her given name (first name), not their full name. 

• A suitable reply is: “Good morning, John. My name is Wang Jianfeng.” If you do not include his name, it doesn’t matter too much but remember that the examiner is a human being and hearing you say his name would be a pleasant surprise for him! He will think of you, “What a nice person!”

• Throughout the speaking test, it is best to use the contracted forms of English whenever possible but in this first answer, it is perfectly appropriate to say, “My name is” rather than, “My name’s”. It is appropriate here because when a person states his or her name in a situation such as the IELTS interview, they usually want to say it very clearly so that the listener makes no mistake with the name. Don't forget, the examiner is verifying your identity here. 

• It’s ok to say, “Good morning, John. My full name is Wang Jianfeng.” but it’s not really necessary to repeat the word, “full”. However, you definitely must say your complete name – don’t just say, “My name’s Wang.”

• Even though you are speaking a Chinese name, you still should speak it clearly for the foreigner. In fact, you should speak it more clearly, and a bit slower than you would if you were speaking to a Chinese person. This is because it is important for the examiner to confirm that it really is you sitting there and not your brother or someone else. The examiner has your application form in front of him and your name is written on it in hanyu pinyin. Remember, the examiner does not want to waste time by asking you to repeat your name because he didn’t hear it clearly.

• Don’t change the order of your name and say your name is, “Jianfeng Wang”. (Even if you do the test overseas, respect your Chinese naming system.) However, if you wrote your name that way on the application form, then it probably is the best way to answer the question.

Your name will (usually) be written as, "Wang Jianfeng" on the application form, which is what the examiner is looking at as you say your name.

• Don’t say, “My Chinese name is _____”. It is completely unnecessary to say the word, “Chinese” because the purpose here is to check your legal identity, that is, your real name. You only have one legal name and that is your Chinese name. The wording of the question, “... your full name ...” shows that this is a serious question and that the examiner wants you to say your real name. Your English name, if you have one, is no more significant than a nickname, which you can change at any time.

• Don’t spell your name. (Only spell it if the examiner can't understand your pronunciation of it.)  

• Don’t say, “Wang is my family name and Jianfeng is my given name.” The question didn’t ask you to explain your name. Sometimes there is a Part 1 topic, ‘Names’ and in such a topic, explaining your name would be suitable. But not here. Saying that also gives the examiner the feeling that your answer comes from an IELTS book. You should avoid causing the examiner to think this because examiners very much prefer original answers from you. The only time when it might be appropriate to explain which is your surname and which is your given name is if you are a Chinese person doing the IELTS test overseas. However, the examiner is usually not interested in hearing such information during the ID check – at this point in the test, he just wants to compare what you say to what is written on your application form.

• Don’t call the examiner, “Sir”, “Miss” or “Madame”. If you didn’t hear his or her name, just say, “Good morning.” without saying his or her name. Using “Sir”,  “Miss” or “Madame” is a sign that you either consider the examiner to be a teacher,  that you are being unnecessarily formal, or that you consider the examiner to be your ‘superior’– you should think of the examiner as an equal, not as someone superior to you. If you think of the examiner as an equal, you will speak more openly, be more relaxed and get a better score than if you think he or she is a superior, or some kind of ‘examining god’. Remember, English-speaking Westerners are usually less formal than Chinese people.

• The examiner’s question was, “Could you tell me your full name, please?” and this sounds like a “Yes/No” question. However, this form of question is not really a “Yes/No” question; it’s an indirect question, which has the same meaning as the direct question, “What is your full name?” Indirect questions are considered more polite than direct questions.  

• Whenever you are asked such an indirect question, you should not answer with, “Yes” or, “Yes, I could.” Native English speakers sometimes do answer such questions by first saying a very quick, “Yes” but you should not say that because the examiner might think that you think it really is a “Yes/No” question.  

• Some candidates give an answer such as this: “My name is Wang Jianfeng but you can call me Robert.” This answer is quite acceptable and quite natural in an informal and non-test situation, for example, if you meet a foreigner on the bus. But I suggest you don't say that in the IELTS Speaking test because some examiners might think that you already knew what the second question is (“What can I call you?”) and that you had rehearsed your answer, and examiners don’t like answers that seem to be obviously rehearsed. 

Not only that, adding the words, “... but you can call me ...” in a situation where someone is verifying your identity is a little unsuitable. If a policeman or a bank clerk asked you, “Can you tell me your full name, please?” would you answer with, “My name is Wang Jianfeng but you can call me Robert”?

• In other words, I would say it is better not to add, “... but you can call me ...” after this question. Instead, wait for the examiner's second question.

2. Then the examiner will say: “What can I call you?” (Or, “What shall I call you?”)

With this question, the examiner is indicating that he or she would like to address you in the test with some name that is shorter and friendlier than your full name. This is a sign that the test will not be very formal and serious but will instead, to some extent, have some of the features of a friendly chat.

However, as I mentioned above, it is better to wait for the examiner to set the tone of the test with this second question, than for you to make the decision on the formality level of the test by saying, "... but you can call me ....". Let the examiner be in charge of the test.

• You don’t need to use an English name! But if you do use an English name, make sure that it is simple and easy for the examiner to understand the first time you say it. It’s probably best to use a fairly commonly used name. For example, no English speaker chooses to be called, “Apple”, even as a nickname. This kind of name could cause the examiner to ask you to repeat your name because he might not be sure he heard it correctly.

• If you do choose to say an English name, make sure that you can pronounce it correctly! Mispronouncing your own English (nick)name is an unnecessary mistake and would not give the examiner a very good impression. For example, if your English name is Harry, don’t say, “Just call me Hairy.” (See here for the meaning of "hairy".) Or, if your English name is Justin, don’t say, “Just call me Justine.”( Justine is the female form of Justin and is pronounced differently). 

• Occasionally, a candidate says something like, “Just call me by my English name, Yuki.” But Yuki (and Suki) are Japanese names, not English names. And ‘Pierre’ is a French name (meaning, Peter). You won't lose points in the Speaking test by making such errors but you won't impress the examiner with such basic errors of fact (not errors of English). If you use a name other than your Chinese name, find out if it is in fact an English name or not.

• Most examiners in China are (or should be) used to candidates saying, “Just call me Xiao Wang” but, to be on the safe side, it might be better if you said, “Just call me Wang.” or, “Just call me Jianfeng.” without using the word “xiao”.

• If you have a two-word name such as Liu Xiang and if this is what you would like to be called, don't say the name in exactly the same way as you said it in your answer to the first question. For example, for the first answer, you should say something like, “My name is Liu Xiang”, with the emphatic stress on your name. But for the second question, you should say something like, “Just call me Liu Xiang”, with the stress on the word “just”, not on your name this time because you are not saying something new.

• If you use the word, ‘just’, don’t pronounce the ‘t’ – the ‘t’ is 95% silent (except when it is the last sound of the last word in a sentence). It is true that a small percentage of native English speakers, usually from Britain, clearly say the "t" in sentences such as "Just call me ...".  However, the majority of English speakers say that with the "t" sound barely audible, or not audible at all because it is a little difficult to say when speaking at natural speed. ("Audible" means, "people can hear it clearly".) You, as a learner of English, should not attempt to say the "t" very clearly because it will probably sound unnatural and not very fluent.

• Many candidates say something like, “You can call me Stephen.” That answer is OK but you should not pronounce ‘can’ as ‘kæn’, like in the first part of ‘Canada’. Instead, you should pronounce it as ‘kən’ or even, “k’n” – it should be pronounced in a rather quick, short way. (Hear the two ways to say, "can" here.)

‘Can’ is pronounced as ‘kæn’, a) when we ask a question – “Can you help me?”, “Can you swim?” and, b) when we want to emphasize, for example, when we say, “Yes, I can.” However, it is pronounced as ‘kən’ or even, “k’n” when we speak sentences such as: “I can speak English”, “I can drive a car” and “She can play the piano.”

Some examiners will not notice the pronunciation of this word but even those who don’t notice will still feel that your English sounds natural if you say, ‘kən’ or sounds a little unnatural if you say, ‘kæn’.

• Don’t say, “You may call me Stephen.” because ‘may’, in this kind of situation,  is used when giving permission to someone, or speaking to a person of inferior status.

• Some candidates say: “You can call me by my English name, Stephen.” That’s acceptable but the examiner knows that Stephen is an English name, so why say it? Certainly, you should avoid the mistake of saying, “You can call me my English name, Stephen.” – this is a grammatical mistake – you must use the word, ‘by’ in this expression. Similarly, “You can call my English name, Stephen.” is grammatically incorrect.

• Another acceptable answer is: “Please call me Stephen.”

• Only say something such as, “All my friends call me Stephen” if it is true! Do your Chinese friends really call you ‘Stephen’? You want to avoid giving the examiner the impression that you learned answers like that from an IELTS book. But if you say, “All my foreign friends call me Stephen” then it would be appropriate.

• If you feel that it's suitable and interesting to tell the examiner where you got your English name or why you chose a certain English name, then it is quite natural to add a small comment about that. Examiners are interested in learning something new from candidates and they would like a naturally stated piece of extra information. But keep it very short. (The fact that your high school English teacher gave you your English name is not interesting enough to say in this situation.)