The names of ancient Chinese are the same as modern ones. They are symbols used by people to represent individuals in social interactions. A surname is the name used exclusively by a certain group of people (clan, family); a given name is a surname used exclusively by an individual.
The surnames of characters in ancient Chinese history and legends, such as Xiong, Niu, Qingyun, etc., may seem to be the names of clans today. In ancient times, clans used natural objects as clan symbols, so most of these names were related to living things and natural phenomena. These clan names may later evolve into surnames (such as Xiong, Niu, Yun, etc.). In ancient times, people were often addressed by place names (such as Fu Shuo, "Fu" is a place name), professional names (such as Wu Xian, "Wu" is a person engaged in divination), and ancestor names (such as Zhong Hui, who is Xi Zhong's Descendants), etc., this type of title is fixed as "surname". For example, Lu, Han, Song, etc. are named after the place; Dongguo, Ximen, Chi, Liu, etc. are named after the location and scenery of the place of residence; Shi, Zhu, Shi, etc. are named after their occupation; Shangguan, Sima, Situ and others took their official surnames as their surnames; Gongsun and Wangsun were the first to refer to their ancestors as dukes or kings; surnames such as Mu and Zhuang used their ancestors' posthumous names. From the names of some people during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, we can still see some traces of the formation of surnames. For example, Zhan Qin was also called "Liu Xiahui" because there were willow trees in his place, Gongshu Ban was also called "Lu Ban" because he was from Lu, and Gongsun Yang was also called "Lu Ban" because he was from Lu. The people of Wei State called him "Wei Yang", and because he was granted the title of Lord Shang, he was called "Shang Yang", etc. In addition, some surnames such as Huyan, Murong, Yuchi, etc. also appeared in the communication process of various ethnic groups in China.
The formation of surnames has different historical processes, and the same surname may not necessarily have the same origin. For example, "He", some had the original surname "He Lan" or "He Dun" simplified to "He", and some had the original surname "Qing" but changed their surname to "He" to avoid the emperor's taboo. Surnames also change due to political, geographical, ethnic and other reasons. For example, in the Five Dynasties, Wu Yue's surname "Liu" was changed to "Jin" due to taboo ("Liu" has the same pronunciation with the name of King Wu Yue "Qian Liu"); after the "Jingnan" incident in the Ming Dynasty②, Huang Zicheng's descendants changed their surname to "Tian" to avoid trouble. , and the eunuch Ma Sanbao who contributed to the "Jingnan" was given the surname "Zheng" (that is, Zheng He, who is famous for "the eunuch Sanbao went to the West"); Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty changed the surname "Tuoba" to "Tuoba" in order to promote "Chineseization" "Yuan" surname. Another example is "The "Ge" surname in counties (today's Shandong Province) in the Han Dynasty was moved to Yangdu (today's Henan Province). In order to distinguish it from the local Ge surname, it was called "Zhuge", while the "Tian" surname in Qidi When relocating, the surnames were changed to "First", "Second"... (such as "Fifth Lun", a famous official in the Eastern Han Dynasty). It can be seen that the surname is a symbol, not as propagated by the defenders of the feudal patriarchal system.
Names are personal symbols used in society. Some personal names left over from the Xia and Shang dynasties, such as Kong Jia, Pan Geng, Wu Ding, etc., may be related to the stems and branches. It is related to birth date. In the Spring and Autumn Period, some names such as "Black Hips" and "Black Humbs" should be named after physical characteristics. The name of Zheng Zhuang Gong is "Huansheng", which shows that some names were still used at that time. Very simple. But at that time, the words used in some people's names also had specific meanings, and this meaning was made more clear by the "zi" that appeared at the same time. "Zi" was often the explanation and supplement of "name", which was the same as "name". It refers to the exterior and interior, so it is also called "Biao Zi". Qu Yuan said in "Li Sao": "The name Yu is Zhengzexi, and the character Yu is Lingjun"; "Zhengze" means "Ping", and "Lingjun" means "Yuan". ". His name is "ping" and the word is "original". There is a meaningful connection between "name" and "zi". The relationship between "name" and "zi" in the ancients has the same meaning, such as: Zhang Heng, who created the seismograph in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was named Pingzi. Mi Heng, a writer who "beat drums and scolded Cao", had the courtesy name Zhengping, and the "Heng" in their names and characters is "ping"; the poets Qin Guan and Lu You of the Song Dynasty had the courtesy name Shaoyou and Lu You, the courtesy name Wuguan, and the "Guan" in their names and characters It is also synonymous with "you". Another example is the calligrapher Chu Suiliang of the Tang Dynasty, whose courtesy name was Dengshan, and the writer Zeng Gong of the Song Dynasty, whose courtesy name was Zigu. The words "Liang" and "Shan", "Gong" and "Gu" in their names and characters. They are also synonymous. "Name" and "character" have complementary meanings. For example: Liang Hong, a writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty who "raised his eyebrows", was named Boluan. "Hong" and "Luan" are two kinds of birds that are praised by people; Lu Ji, a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, had the courtesy name Shiheng. "Ji" and "Heng" are both two stars in the Big Dipper.
However, because they have existed for a long time in history and have been widely used, we cannot completely avoid them. For example, the author of "Song of Righteousness" was Wen Tianxiang, whose courtesy name was Lushan and Songrui (the three characters of Xiang, Shan and Rui are synonymous). In the past dynasties, he was often called "Wenwenshan" (self-titled) and "Prime Minister Wen" ( Official position), "Wen Xin Guo" (title), etc. His works are also titled "Wen Shan Collection", "Wen Prime Minister Collection", "Wen Xin Guo Gong Collection", "Wen Xin Gong Ti Du Shi", etc. Another example is that there are more than fifty kinds of works titled with "王" as the first word in "Sikuquanshu", most of which are titled with font names or other pronouns, such as "Zi An Ji" (the name of Wang Bo of Tang Dynasty), " "Wang Tianyou Ji" (the title of Wang Da of the Ming Dynasty), "Wang Yangming Ji" (the title of Wang Shouren of the Ming Dynasty), "Wang Wencheng Gongquan Shu" (the posthumous title of Wang Shouren of the Ming Dynasty), "Notes on Wang Jinggong's Poems" (the title of Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty), Collection of Wang Youcheng" (the official position of Wang Wei of Tang Dynasty), etc. There are also many collections of works by people named Wang with no names at all on the titles, such as "Linchuan Collection" (Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty was originally from Linchuan), "Fengzhou Notes", "Yanzhou Mountain Man's Inscriptions and Postscripts" (Ming Dynasty Wang Shizhen, no. Fengzhou, also known as Yanzhou Shanren), "Yuyang Wenlu" (Qing Wang Shizhen, also known as Yuyangshanren), "The Complete Works of Chuanshan" (Qing Wang Fuzhi, honorific as Mr. Chuanshan), etc. If we don’t know anything about ancient people’s names and numbers, we have no way of identifying them. Therefore, in order to read ancient books and study ancient thoughts and styles, we still need to understand it.
① Scholars of ancient history in the world call this clan symbol (also the object of clan worship) "totem".
② In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, raised troops to attack Nanjing in the name of crusade against Huang Zicheng and others, overthrew Emperor Jianwen, and became the emperor himself (that is, Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty). At that time, he was called "Jingnan".