Today, when we say the word "name", we usually refer to people's names. But in ancient China, there were both "names" and "characters", and some people had numbers besides names and characters. So, what's the difference between a name, a word and a number?
"Name" is a personal name, which is often used by elders and often reflects children's expectations through naming.
"Zi" is often an explanation and supplement to "Ming", which is similar to or complementary to "Ming" and is also called "ideograph". For example, Zhuge Liang's word Kongming, Yue Fei's word Ju Peng, "bright" is similar to "Kongming" and "flying" is similar to "Ju Peng". And "word" and "name" are antonyms.
"Good" is another name for people. Most ancient literati gave themselves "numbers" to express their personal feelings. For example, there is a wooden bridge in Zheng Xie's hometown. He used to cross the bridge when he was a child, and he liked it very much. Later, he nicknamed himself "Banqiao". When writing and drawing, he always writes the nickname "Banqiao". After a long time, people called him Zheng Banqiao, but not many people remembered his original name.
When the ancients met each other, they were very particular about the usage of names, words and numbers. Names are generally used to address themselves, or up and down, long and short; When the upper pair or the lower pair call each other names and numbers, peers only call each other names when they are familiar with each other.