Usually when we meet a stranger and want to communicate with him, we always ask, "What's your surname?" "What's your surname?" Our country holds major meetings and announces personnel arrangements. When there are multiple editors or authors holding the same position, or on other occasions, such as a book, the order of sorting is often "in order of strokes of the surname." So what is a surname? Are the surnames and surnames the same or different? What happened to the name? When we read ancient books, classical dramas, we often encounter situations where the same person has a nickname and a nickname in addition to his name. Sometimes there is more than one nickname, and he is called differently on different occasions. What's going on?
Here we will talk about this knowledge, mainly about the historical origin and evolution of surnames, surnames, given names, characters, and nicknames.
1. Surnames
Volume 24 of Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" "Female Department": "Surname is what a person is born from, from a female, to a female, and to a female. "Volume 9 of Ban Gu's "White Tiger Tongde Lun" says: "The surname is born, and the person is born because of the weather." "Zuo Zhuan·Yin Gong Eighth Years" "The emperor builds virtue and is given the surname because of his birth." This all shows that the original meaning of "surname" is "生". Therefore, it is generally believed that the surname was originally a racial title that represented the same blood, ancestry, and blood relationship, referred to as a clan name. As a clan name, it is not the title of an individual person or an individual family, but the title of the entire clan tribe. According to literature, our ancestors originally used surnames for the purpose of "differentiating marriages," "Ming lineage," and "differentiating races." It was produced around the time of the clan commune in primitive society.
Where did the last name come from? People speculate that the origin of the surname is related to the totem worship of the ancestors. In the primitive Mengmei era, each tribe and clan had its own totem worship objects. For example, ears of wheat, bears, snakes, etc. were all the totems of our ancestors, and this kind of totem worship objects became the symbol of the tribe. Later, it became the code name for all members of the tribe, that is, "surname". Since the number of ancient clans and tribes is limited and countable after all, there are very few pure surnames left from ancient times.
The "ancient surnames" sorted out by later generations according to "Spring and Autumn" include: Gui (now Guishui in Zhuolu, Hebei), Si, Zi, Ji, (surnames of the Zhou royal family), Feng, Ying (Qin) Surnames), Ji, Ren, Ji, Qian, Cao, Qi, Ju, Jiang, Dong, Yan, Gui, Man, Mi (surname of Chu), Wei (original surname of northern ethnic minorities), Qi (hidden), Yun, etc. 22 Personal name. Nearly half of these surnames have a female character next to them. Therefore, people speculate that the surname may have originated in a matrilineal clan society. Mr. Zhang Taiyan and other scholars compiled dozens of ancient surnames (about 59, Zhang Taiyan got 52, and others from bronze inscriptions) from older documents such as "Shuowen", "Shan Hai Jing", oracle bone inscriptions, and bronze inscriptions. Lei and 7 others), including the original ones, there are only about 80. It is conceivable that these are only part of the surnames that actually existed in ancient times, and the original surnames must be more than these. The others have been lost. But one thing is certain, the surnames at that time were definitely not as numerous as the "surnames" we talk about today. Here we can list a few representative numbers about surnames from ancient times to the present.
① In the feudal society after the Northern Song Dynasty, "Hundred Family Surnames" (edited by Anonymous Qiantang in the Northern Song Dynasty), which has long been used as a children's literacy book, has a collection of 502 surnames (including 342 single surnames and 60 compound surnames. At the beginning) Said: "Zhao Qian Sun Li, Zhou Wu King Zheng, Feng Chen Chuwei, Jiang Chen Han Yang...") ② According to Zheng Qiao's "Tongzhi·Summary of Surnames" in the Song Dynasty, there are 1,745 ancient surnames. ③Wu Shen, editor of the Hanlin Academy in the Ming Dynasty, and others compiled the "Huang Ming Qian Family Surnames" based on the household registers stored in the Ministry of Household Affairs at that time, and collected 1,968 surnames. (The beginning says: "Zhu Feng Tianyun, rich in all directions, the holy god of civil and military affairs, Tao and Tao Tang...") ④ Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty personally approved the "Imperial Control of Hundred Family Surnames", (the beginning says: "Kong Shique Party, Meng Xi Qi Liang, Gaoshan Zhan Yang, Zou Lu Rongchang, Ran Jizongzheng, You Xia Wen...") ⑤ Zhang Shu of the Qing Dynasty stated in "Looking for the Origin of Surnames" and "Distinguishing Misunderstandings of Surnames" that there were 5,129 ancient surnames. ⑥After the founding of the People's Republic of China, mainland scholars Yan Fuqing and others edited and published the "Compilation of Chinese Surnames", which included 5,730 surnames. Among them, there are 3,470 single surnames, 2,085 two-character surnames, 163 three-character surnames, and 12 four- and five-character surnames. Taiwan Province also published "Chinese Surname Symbols", which collected 6,363 surnames, but there were duplicates of variant characters. ⑦ According to a 1984 sample survey by the Chinese Characters Division of the Chinese Language and Character Reform Working Committee and estimates by relevant experts, there are more than 3,000 surnames still in use today.
(The Meteorological Press published "One Hundred Contemporary Surnames" edited by Wang Daliang in January 2001. According to the 1982 national census data, there are currently about 400 commonly used surnames in my country. Based on the population at that time, the top 100 surnames are: Li Wang Zhang Liu Chen Yang Zhao Huang Zhou Wu Xu Sun Hu Zhu Gaolin He Guo Maluo Liang Song Zheng Xie Han Tang Feng Yu Dong Xiao Cheng Cao Yuan Deng Xu Fu Shen Zeng Peng Lu Sulu Jiang Cai Jia Ding Wei Xue Ye Yan Yu Pan Du Dai, Xia Zhong, Wang Tian, ??Ren Jiang, Fan Fangshi, Yao Tan, Liao Zhou, Xiong Jinlu, Hao Kongbai, Cui Kang, Wang Qiu, Qin Jiangshi, Gu Houlang, Menglong, Wan Duanlei Qiantang, Yin Li, Changwu, Qiao Helai and Gongwen. These 100 surnames account for more than 87% of the total population of the country. There are more than 300 million people with the surnames Wang, Zhang, Liu and Chen. Li 87 million, Wang 80 million, Zhang 8 million, Liu 60 million, and Chen 50 million. The situation of common surnames in various cities across the country is also different, such as the top 10 surnames in Shanghai. They are: Zhang Wang, Chen Li, Xu Zhu, Zhou Wu, Liu Chen.) This number is too far away from the so-called pure "surnames" that existed in ancient times. So what about the other characters that are also called surnames? Those characters are the main component of modern surnames, "Shi". Let's introduce "Shi" below.
2. "Shi"
Due to the proliferation of the population, the original tribes divided into several new tribes. In order to distinguish themselves from each other and express their own specificity, these tribes gave their own names. Each sub-tribe has its own unique code name, which is "shi". Of course, some small tribes do not do this and still use the surname of the old tribe. Some tribes continue to use their old surnames while having their own "clan". These small tribes later divided into more small tribes, and they determined surnames for themselves. In this way, there were more and more surnames, even far exceeding the original surname size.
In terms of time, this is already a matter of patriarchal clan society, and clans bear the mark of this era. Therefore, "surname" can be said to be a branch of the surname. "Tongxuan·Waiji" says: "The surname is the place where the ancestors came from, and the surname is where the descendants are." This can explain the relationship between the two. "Surname" is constant, and "surname" is variable. Gu Yanwu also said that "surnames can change as soon as they are passed down, but surnames remain unchanged for thousands of years." Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, surnames and surnames were used on different occasions. There were strict regulations on who had surnames and who used surnames. After the Han Dynasty, surnames were not added. Distinction, surnames are combined into one, collectively referred to as surnames. The most obvious sign is "Historical Records". Based on the existing surnames, inferring their origins or the reasons why they were originally identified as surnames, there are roughly the following aspects:
(1) As mentioned earlier, Surnames with the word "female" next to them, such as "娰, Ji, Jiang, Gui, Ying", etc., are a reflection of the worship of women in matrilineal clan society. Some are directly the names and titles of the matriarch.
(2) Surnames based on animals, plants or other natural objects. Such as horse, cow, sheep, pig, snake, dragon, willow, plum, plum, peach, flower, leaf, grain, wheat, mulberry, hemp, millet, mountain, water, forest, wood, wind, cloud, river, river , gold, stone, steel, iron, jade, etc., a large part of which are tribal totems.
(3) The surname is based on the country, fief, official position or title. Such as Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin, Lu, Cai, Zheng, Chen, Song, and Ruan; Situ, Sima, Sikong, Lezheng, Zai, Shangguan, Taishi, Shaozheng, Wang, Hou, Gongsun , Bozi, etc., due to the many names of ancient nobility officials, there are many such surnames.
(4) The surname is based on the place of birth, residence or occupation, such as Yao (Yu Shun was born in Yaoxu), Dongfang (Fuxi’s residence), Ximen, Dongmen (the place where the descendants of Luzhuang Gongzi settled), Dongguo, Nan, Baili, Ouyang (King Goujian of Yue was granted the title of Ouyang Pavilion in Wucheng), Tao, witchcraft, divination, medicine, etc.
(5) Use the family name and posthumous name of the ancestor as the surname. Such as Tang, Yu, Xia, Shang, Zhou, Yin, Wen, Wu, Zhao, Mu, Kang, Zhuang, Xuan, Ping, Cheng, etc.
(6) Others (there are several variants and mutations in the surname):
A. The emperor gave the surname. For example, Liu Bang gave Xiang Bo the surname Liu. Li Yu gave Xi Tinggui (Mo Wu Guan) the surname Li.
B. Change your surname to avoid disaster. For example, after Wu Zixu was killed in Wu, his descendants fled to Qi and changed their surname to Wangsun; Chen Wan, the son of Chen Li, fled to Qi and became a doctor after the civil strife in Chen, and changed his surname to Tian.
C. Change the surname to avoid being tabooed by the emperor or saint. For example, Xun changed to Sun, Zhuang changed to Yan, Qiu changed to Qiu, etc.
D. I thought the original surname was complicated and had too many characters, so I changed my surname. For example, Sima Jian's surname is Si, Ma or Feng, and Ouyang Jian's surname is Ou.
E. Ethnic minorities took the initiative to adopt Han surnames. For example, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty stipulated that the Xianbei people should use Han surnames such as Lu, Mu, He, Yu, etc. The royal family took the lead and changed the original surname Tuoba to Yuan.
F. In addition, Tuoba, Shanyu, Yuwen, Changsun, Huyan, Yuchi, Yelu, Wanyan, Aixinjueluo, etc. are all Chinese transliterations of minority surnames. After some ethnic minority surnames were translated into Chinese, they were simplified because they thought the characters were too long. For example, Aixinjueluo was changed to Luo or Jin. As can be seen from the above, people with the same surname do not necessarily belong to the same family.
The surnames in "noble surname", "respected surname" and "in order of the strokes of the surname" in public and social situations today actually include the two aspects of ancient surnames and surnames.
In addition, there are several points worth noting about ancient surnames:
① Before the Warring States Period, only nobles had surnames. Noble men were called surnames, and women were called surnames. Because "the surname distinguishes marriage", "the family name distinguishes the noble from the humble", "the noble ones have surnames, and the humble ones have names but no surnames" ("Tongzhi·Clan Preface") Gu Yanwu said in "Rizhilu": "Teaching it In the "Biography", during the two hundred and fifty-five years, there were no men who were called by their surnames? "
Then what are men called? 1. The noble ones are called surnames; 2. The humble ones are summarized by their occupations. Such professional names as Yiqiu, Paoding, Jiangshi, Yihe, and Youmeng later became surnames. It was a common name at that time.
② Those with the same surname but different surnames can be married; those with the same surname but different surnames cannot be married. "It is a courtesy not to marry with the same surname", "If parents have the same surname, they will not be married" ("Zuo Zhuan"), "If you don't marry with the same surname, you will not reproduce if you have the same surname". ("Guoyu") Some people think that it contains simple eugenics.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu Zhaogong married a Wu girl as his wife. Both of them were named Ji, but he changed his wife's surname to Meng and called her Wu Mencius.
③Because "surname" plays the role of "differentiating marriages", and aristocratic men do not use surnames, it is particularly important for women to use surnames. In order to distinguish between women with the same surname who are about to marry or are already married, a surname was formed. It is a special name for a woman, adding prefixes and suffixes before and after the surname.
A. Prefix ranking: Meng, Bo, Zhong, Shu, Ji. Such as Meng Jiang, Bo Ji, Shu Wei,
B. Prefixed by the fiefdom and posthumous title of the husband's family: such as Jin Ji, Wu Jiang, Wen Ying.
C. Suffixes such as Jia's, Nu, Mu, Ji, Lao, Lao, etc., such as Zhang's, Shang's daughter, Meng's mother, Wu Ji, Zhao's wife, etc.