Modern people say that a name is a word, but in ancient times, a name and a character were two things. A name is a name and a character is a character. For example, Zhuge Liang was named Kongming, Liu Bei was named Xuande, and Yue Fei was named Fei, which is very strange.
Why did the ancients take so much trouble to have a name and a character? What is the difference between a name and a character? To put it simply, it is a humble title and the first word is an honorific title. What does it mean? When a child is a hundred days old, the father or grandfather will give the child a name. For example, after Cao Cao was born a hundred days ago, his mother would hold him and find his father to name him. The father took him over and saw that the child looked very good. He was relatively ugly, so he casually said Cao Cao, and the child's name turned out to be Cao Cao.
Of course this is a joke. Cao Cao's Cao Cao is moral, because the name and the character must be related. How to connect is more complicated, such as a relatively simple connection, such as Cao Cao's character Meng Dehe The combination of Liu Bei's character Xuande means Bei De, the combination of Yue Fei's character Pengju means Feipeng, and the combination of Zhuge Liang's character Kongming means Mingming. These are relatively simple, and there are also more complicated ones, such as Zhou Yu The characters Gongjin, Yu and Jin all mean beautiful jade.
There is also Sun Ce's word Bo Fu. Ce is the document used by the monarch and his vassals when they assign titles and official positions. For example, in Mulan's poem, it is said that Ce Xun's twelve biography are to reward hundreds of thousands of strong men. This is what it means. The talisman refers to the credentials used by the court when deploying troops, such as the tiger talisman, so both the ce and the talisman symbolize power and status.
In fact, when Sun Jian named his sons, he made clear arrangements, such as Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Yi, and Sun Kuang. The first two Ce and Quan are powers, and the last two Yi are Both Kuang and Kuang are assistants, so Sun Yi is named Shu Bi, Sun Kuang is named Ji Zuo, and Bi Zuo means assistant.
We just said that the name is from a hundred days, but the name is not from a hundred days. It is given to you by a respected person during the coming-of-age ceremony. Generally speaking, men can be married when they are 20 years old, and women can be married when they are 15 years old. Being married means having a social status. The most typical one is to get married and start a family at the same time. If a girl has not found her husband's family after the age of 15, she is not married, but she cannot clearly say that my daughter is not married, so I invented a word called "waiting for a girl". My daughter is waiting for a word. The implicit expression is My daughter is not married.
We have said that the name is a nickname and the word is an honorific. Specifically, when others call you, you cannot use your name but only your name. Therefore, when Liu Bei calls you Zhuge Liang, you can only call him Mr. Kong Ming, not Mr. Liang. But when you call yourself yourself, you can only use your name, not your name. Therefore, even if Cao Cao becomes the prime minister, you can only say what I am like Cao Cao, but you cannot say what I am like Cao Mengde. For this reason, a special etiquette is derived called worshiping. Names such as Xiao He and Cao Cao have been treated well. What does that mean?
Generally speaking, when ministers go to court, the etiquette officer will call them by their position and name. Because the emperor's status is relatively high, he can address his ministers by their first names. For example, when Cao Cao met Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, he would say "Prime Minister Cao has an audience," and when Xiao He met Liu Bang, he would say "I have an audience with the Prime Minister." . Therefore, the name is a nickname and the word is an honorific, and the name is used to call oneself and the word is used to call others. If you call someone by their first name, it's basically like swearing. Although we have abolished Chinese characters today, Chinese people are still not used to calling their children by their first names. Even many parents do not call their children by their first names. If your mother suddenly calls you by your first name when you were a child, it means that you There's trouble.