There are broad and narrow names, as well as nicknames, aliases, nicknames and birth names. Broad names include the surname and first name of citizens and the names of legal persons and unincorporated organizations; In a narrow sense, the name only refers to the first and last names of citizens. It is a combination of names and words. In ancient times, names and characters were used separately. Now collectively referred to as "name", refers to the name or first name.
It is said that in ancient times, babies were named by their fathers three months after birth, which is the origin of the ancient "names". In fact, in some areas of China, the custom of naming babies at full moon still exists, but the right to name babies is no longer borne by the father alone, but by the baby's relatives.
Ancient name:
In history books or ancient books, we can often see that the ancients had characters besides names. The ancients had "names" and "characters", and "names" were also called "real names". The old saying goes that an ancient baby was named by his father three months after birth (of course, some people said that they could take a name after birth); The word "Zi", also called "Biao Zi", is a name associated with the real name. When a man is crowned at the age of 20, he takes the word (however, in the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms, his thoughts are rebellious, so it is not necessary to follow the principle of taking the word by the crown. Cao Chong and Sun Liang both died before they died, but they both had something to say.
Women wear words when they salute at the age of fifteen. Names existed before the Xia Dynasty, and word selection is said to have started from the Shang Dynasty. For example, the overthrown Shang Tang, formerly known as Lu, was also known as Tianyi and the word Tang. Also, there is a difference between a name and a character. The ancients often claimed their own names to show humility, called people's words to show respect, and the combination of surnames and words was also a kind of respect.