Friends who know something about the history of the Qing Dynasty may find that the emperors and princes of the Qing Dynasty particularly liked to use uncommon characters in their names. For example, the famous Si Age (the Yongzheng Emperor) was named Yinzhen and Jiaqing Emperor. The name of Emperor Daoguang is Yong Yan, and the name of Emperor Daoguang is Minning. It is estimated that most Chinese people do not recognize these names. Why did the emperor of the Qing Dynasty have a special liking for rare characters?
The emperors and princes of the early Qing Dynasty were the same as other Manchus in naming, and there was no special emphasis on naming. Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty was called Huang Taiji, his eldest brother was called Chu Ying, his second brother was called Daishan, his fifth brother was called Mang Gurtai, his fourteenth brother was called Dorgon, and his fifteenth brother was called Duduo. Except for the fact that all of their surnames are Aixinjueluo, their names are all relatively random, with two-, three-, and four-character names.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Emperor Shunzhi still followed the Manchu tradition when naming his sons. The eldest son of Emperor Shunzhi was named Niu Niu and the second son was named Fuquan (Emperor Shunzhi’s name was Fulin, According to the tradition of the Han people, using the same character in the names of father and son makes people feel like they are peers, which is simply inappropriate). The third son's name is Xuan Ye, the famous Kangxi Emperor.
Emperor Kangxi succeeded to the throne at a young age and was deeply influenced by Han culture. This influence is not only reflected in many national policies of the Qing Dynasty, but also in the naming of children and grandchildren. They also imitate Han families and use character generation to name their children and grandchildren in order to distinguish the elders and younger ones and the distance between them.
Emperor Kangxi chose the two characters "Yin" and "Hong" for seniority, Emperor Qianlong chose the four characters "Yong", "Min", "Yi" and "Zai"", and Emperor Daoguang continued with the characters "Pu", "Yu", "Heng" and "Qi". Emperor Xianfeng added four characters: Tao, Kai, Zeng and Qi. Therefore, starting from Emperor Yongzheng, the rank order of the Manchu clan is: Yin, Hong, Yong, Min, Yi, Zai, Pu, Yu, Heng, Qi, Tao, Kai, Zeng, Qi.
After reading this, many people may find that many of these characters are very uncommon, and they have never even been seen before. This means that there was a very overbearing rule in ancient China, which was to avoid taboos.
The so-called taboo means that you must avoid speaking or writing the names of kings and venerables directly. There is an article in "Gongyang Zhuan, Min Gong Year" that reads: "The Spring and Autumn Period is a taboo for the venerable, a taboo for relatives, and a taboo for the sage." ?This is a general principle of taboo in ancient times.
After Emperor Kangxi ascended the throne, due to taboo reasons, all words related to the words "Xuan" and "Ye" had to be revised. For example, the north gate of the Forbidden City was originally called "Xuanwu Gate", but was changed to "Shenwu Gate" to avoid taboos. This rule of being forced to change names due to taboos has existed in China for thousands of years. However, Emperor Kangxi felt that this rule was flashy and would cause unnecessary waste of people's financial resources. But as a feudal emperor, he did not want the emperor's name to be called by the world. Therefore, Kangxi tried his best to name his sons with uncommon words, so that no matter which son ascended the throne and became emperor in the future, the people would have less trouble in avoiding taboos.
Therefore, the emperors and princes of the Qing Dynasty liked to use uncommon words in their names, which can actually be said to be a public support project.