The name "Yuan" means to describe a person who is upright, talented and smart. The ancient character "Yuan" is shaped like a human figure with a protruding head and standing sideways. Its original meaning is a human head; the head is located at the highest point of the human body and has a very important function. Therefore, the word "Yuan" is extended to mean primary and first. In addition, "Yuan" also refers to the root and foundation.
The meaning of the name Yuan
Yuan, the beginning, from one to Wu. Xu Kai's note: "Yuan is the growth of goodness, so it is consistent with one." Paragraph annotation: See "Erya·Exegesis", Jiujia Yi said: Yuan is the beginning of Qi. "Jing Zhi": "The great virtues of heaven and earth are those who give birth to life. The word Yuan comes from two, from people, and the word benevolence comes from people, from two. In heaven, it is yuan, in people, it is benevolence, and in human beings, it is the growth of the body." "Yi Qian Gua": "Yuan is the person who is good."
Rong Geng's "Jinwen Bian" quoted Gao Jingcheng as saying: "It is the first text of Yuan, and Wuwei One word." From the "Jin Wen Bian" we know that the earliest Yuan and Wu are the same word. Lin Yiguang's "Wenyuan" also said: "Wu, Gai and Yuan have the same character." The difference in the shape of the character "人" in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions is that the filled dots that represent the head are highlighted.
It is similar in shape to the Chinese character "天" in bronze inscriptions. The difference is that "天" is a human figure standing in front, with its head highlighted to show its highest point. The configuration of the two characters "Yuan" and "Tian" only relies on the difference between the human figure standing frontally and sideways to refer to the person's head (head) and the top of the head (top) respectively. I'm afraid this is just a habit or It is said to be "conventional".