During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Rui, Cao Fang, Cao Mao and Cao Huan were all single names. Shu Han regime, Liu Bei, Liu Chan is also a single name; Sun Quan, Sun Liang, Sun Xiu, Sun He and Sun Hao are all single names. As for the famous figures in the Three Kingdoms, such as Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Jiang Gan, Xia Houchun, Huang Gai, Lu Xun, Zhang Liao and Meng.
Kong Rong, Chen Lin, RoyceWong, Xu Gan, Ruan Yu, Angelababy, Liu Zhen, Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Dan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Ruan Xian, Wang Rong and Liu Ling are all single names. Occasionally, two-word names are used, but rarely. Or they are hermits, such as Pang Degong and Deng. Or as an artist, such as Oriental Anshi; Or do not change their birth names, such as Liu Penzi and Zheng Xiao; Or simply call it a word, such as Huang and Gou Jianbo.
The Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and the Three Kingdoms (220-265) lasted about 240 years. If we add the Western Jin Dynasty (265-3 16) where the three countries were unified, this period will take about 300 years. According to the history of China's personal names, this 300-year period was the first peak of single names' popularity in China.
Why are there so many single names in this period? For this phenomenon, ancient and modern theorists have different opinions.
In the past, it was generally explained that the retro reform after Wang Mang established a new dynasty at the end of the Western Han Dynasty "made it impossible for China to have two names". Today, Xiao Ye, a Malaysian scholar, uses this statement. In A Study of Chinese Names, Xiao said, "Have you read Hanshu recently? "Biography of Wang Mang", only to know the custom of single name, was initiated by Wang Mang. It turns out that Mangzhong Fuzheng implemented a ban of two names. Mangchuan said that the ban on two names was found in the imperial edict. Mang also called his eldest grandson, because he painted his own face, disguised himself as the son of heaven, carved three bronze seals, and conspired with his uncle in an attempt to inherit his grandfather's great cause of reunification. Change the title. This means going to the second place to show the favor of the court and restoring the second place to show shame. Such suppression and praise will have a great impact on society, at least resulting in people's low concept of second place. Therefore, the Wang Mang regime stepped down after more than ten years, and the habit of going to the second place remained for 300 years. Even after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the single surname was still more than the second. ..
However, Wang Mang's regime lasted only a short time 15 years (9-23 years) between the Han Dynasty. Although Wang Mang resolutely reformed the system in the name of "destiny", he thought that "before the Qin Dynasty, it was renamed, so it was forbidden to change its name" and directly wrote to praise and criticize single names and duplicate names. However, Wang Mang's time in power was short after all. Even the top-down "two-name ban" was implemented by only one generation at most in 15. 15 years later, Wang Mang's new dynasty collapsed, and its ban could not affect the next 300 years of history. Therefore, Wang Mang's "two-name ban" was not the fundamental reason for the prevalence of single names in the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms periods.
In this regard, Lingyangzao in the Qing Dynasty once questioned in Volume 27 of Shao Li Bian:
"The Wild Guest Series said:' The later Han Dynasty was nameless, or it was forbidden by Wang Mang.' Servants read the Huns Biography and beat it unscrupulously, which made it impossible for China to have two names. Because the messenger is single-minded, it should be a word name. In other words, it's not groundless. The servant said that it is not timely to steal the state and county handles.
This view is quite insightful in Bian's view. Just as any culture is inherited, name culture, as one of the important cultural phenomena of the Chinese nation, also has the characteristics of inheritance. Culture is not static, but a living fluid. It is a social activity process that connects people, the older generation and the next generation, groups and groups, and communities coexist. Every generation needs to inherit society from the previous generation. And pass it on to the next generation, so that culture becomes an uninterrupted continuous existence. Every society, nation or group forms cultural traditions through continuous inheritance, and develops and creates new cultures on the basis of traditional cultures.
The prevalence of single names in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty is a cultural inheritance phenomenon.
Since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, China people's name symbols have been dominated by single names, and advocating single names has become the social subconscious. Although Zhou and Qin advocated single names, they did not prohibit two, let alone ridicule two. In this regard, we have already mentioned the two emperors of Yao, Shun, Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou, which is already proof. Due to the custom of thousands of years, we adopted a single name.
Therefore, in my humble opinion, the prevalence of single names for more than 300 years since the Western Han Dynasty is only a continuation of the naming tradition of the previous dynasty, unlike the so-called "custom of single names, which began with Wang Mang". Of course, we don't completely deny Wang Mang by saying this.
The role of "banning two names". Wang Mang's "There are No Two Names in China" has played a role of "adding insult to injury" and "adding fuel to the fire" to China's name system, which has long practiced the custom of single names, and further strengthened its social subconscious that originally advocated single names.
Similarly, although the evidence is insufficient, the so-called "two people are indecent" and "two people are ridiculed by the Spring and Autumn Annals" in the Biography of the Ram have a wide influence in the cultural environment of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" in the Han Dynasty (Dong Zhongshu is the person who studies rams), so it will also have an impact on the social subconscious that advocates single names.
To sum up, the naming custom of Zhou, Qin and Western Han dynasties, which advocated single names for thousands of years, was still inherited and further developed after the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the influence of Wang Mang's "two-name ban" and "two-name indecent assault" on the social subconscious caused the social atmosphere in which single names prevailed for more than 300 years after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Of course, whether this view conforms to historical reality, please see Ren.
So, why are there so many single names between Han and Jin dynasties? The main reason for this phenomenon is to facilitate taboo. Taboos began in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The names of monarchs and elders cannot be written or spoken directly, and must be avoided by other means. At first, the Zhou Dynasty only avoided the name of the deceased, Zuo Zhuan? In the sixth year of Huan Gong's reign, it was said, "People in Zhou Dynasty will always keep their names secret." Zhou used taboos to serve the gods. After death, his name must be taboo. Because he only avoided the names of the dead, not the names of the living, and there were not many words that needed to be avoided, and the confusion between names and things was not caused by taboo, so there were many characters in the two-week period, such as Zhou Mingjun.
Entering the Qin and Han Dynasties, especially the Han Dynasty, is very different. In order to consolidate and strengthen the feudal autocratic rule and imperial power, and safeguard the sacred position of the emperor, once he ascended the throne, he must avoid not only a dead name, but also a living name. For example, Qin Shihuang was famous for ruling the world, so he changed "the first month" to "end the month" or read "levy the moon". Emperor gaozu became a famous country and changed to "state"
"Guo" Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty was famous for his show. He changed the word "show" to "Mao" and "scholar" to "Cai Mao". Han Andi's father's surname is Qing, and "Qing" was changed to "He", so everyone surnamed Qing was changed to He.
In the Han and Jin dynasties, the taboo system became more and more dense, and the Chinese law had stipulated that taboo was illegal. In the second year of Han Yuankang (64 years ago), Xuan Di wrote a letter to Japan: "Today, many people write books about taboo crimes, and I feel very sorry for them. They are even more taboo to ask questions, and all taboos are to let the former forgive them. " (Han Shu? Xuandi Ji) The Jin court discussed taboo many times, which made the taboo system more complicated. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, concubines were taboo, and they were included in the taboo list, which made the world taboo.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the taboo system has become more and more dense, which will inevitably lead to a wide range of social problems. There will be more and more words that need to be avoided and changed from top to bottom, which will lead to all kinds of confusion in names, places, official names, titles and year numbers. They even revised ancient books, such as Spring and Autumn Annals as Yang Qiu and Zhuangzi as Yan Zi.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of taboos and reduce taboo words, the Han and Jin emperors adopted two established naming methods:
One: use a lot of single names (the number of words forbidden by single names is half less than that of compound names). According to the emperor's lineage, the Western Han Dynasty 15 emperor had only two compound names; Eastern Han dynasty 13 emperor's single name; The five emperors of Cao Wei, the two emperors of Shu and Han, and the four emperors of Soochow in the Three Kingdoms are all single names. From Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, to Sima Wende, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, only two of the 15 emperors have the same name. According to statistics, during the 626 years from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty (206-420 BC), only four of the 54 emperors had the same name, accounting for about 94% of the total. This shows that single names prevailed at that time. Emperors use single names, which greatly reduces taboos. Why did the Eastern Han Dynasty rest?
The second is named after a little-known figure. Sun Xiu, the Emperor of Soochow, sealed four sons, Prince Zhen (Yin Wan), the word Shang (), the second son Ao (), the third son Mi (Yin Mang) and the fourth son Kou (Yin Ju). Wu Shu? Sun Xiuchuan quoted Lu Wu (the imperial edict of Sun Xiu). This character is rarely used in the world, so that it is difficult for people to commit crimes and avoid them. Among the 54 emperors from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, many people named them with obscure words or less commonly used words, such as: Emperor Wu Liu, Emperor Wu Liu, Emperor Wu Liu (also known as Liu), etc. There were Liu Tan, Liu Zhao, Liu Zuan and Liu Bian in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The three countries are Wei Mingdi Cao Rui (sharp sound) and Guigui Xianggong Cao Mao (sound hair); In the Western Jin Dynasty, there were Jin Huaidi Sima Chi and Jin Wudi Sima Ye; There are Jin Yuan Emperor Si Marui, Jin Mu Emperor Sima Dan (Yin Dan), Jin Fei Emperor Sima Yi and Jin Jian Wendi Sima Yi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Because subjects have another set of special names for the emperor, such as, emperor, emperor, merchant, Shanxi merchant, emperor, majesty, saint, saint, master, etc., the name of the emperor is not as common as ordinary people, so we can't use obscure words to name it.
The Han and Jin emperors used single names, as well as obscure words and uncommon words, which made their names avoid "unspeakable and taboo", which not only reduced taboo words, but also facilitated taboos. It can be said that "you can have your cake and eat it" (Mencius) Now other senior officials and even scholars, agriculture, industry and commerce, are trying to protect themselves in a family. Almost all the names in the History of the Later Han Dynasty and the History of the Three Kingdoms are single names. Until the "Eight Kings Rebellion" in the Western Jin Dynasty, China entered a period of great division and turmoil. There were 19 countries in China, and ethnic minorities flocked to the Central Plains, which seriously impacted the taboo system. Taboos are not customized, but are combined with leniency and strictness, which brings inconvenience to naming.