I looked at the roster of students in my son’s class today. Except for one child whose name has two characters, the others all have three characters. Nowadays, single names are rarely used when naming children. Firstly, they are afraid of having too many duplicate names. Secondly, they sound more foreign. Some parents give their children four-letter names just to be foreign. So why are people’s names in ancient times always two-character names? For example: Liu Bang, Liu Che, Cao Cao, Wu Song, Song Jiang, Guan Yu, Gao Qiu, Zhang Qian, Zhang Heng, Zhang Fei, Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Mang, Hua Tuo, Ji Chang, Bigan and so on. . Of the 15 emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, 13 had single-character names.
Judging from the documentary records of the late Zhou Dynasty, the names on the recorded documents were mainly single-character names. The history books of the Western Zhou Dynasty record: "The people of the Zhou Dynasty kept taboos on the names of gods, and they will eventually keep them taboo." "That is to say, after a person dies, his name must be avoided. Only the name of the dead person is avoided, and the name of the living person does not need to be avoided. For example: the uncle is named Zhang Yong, and the nephew can be named Zhang Dayong. However, if the uncle has passed away, the nephew cannot be named Zhang Dayong. Therefore, there were many two-character single names in the Zhou Dynasty.
According to legend, after Qin Shihuang unified the country with his victory, in order to maintain his divine power, Qin Shihuang ordered the citizens to avoid the emperor's name when naming, and the name should not be a three-character name. Qin Shihuang's name is Ying Zheng, which is a two-character name. Can ordinary people be allowed to have more characters than his name?
However, in the Han Dynasty, most people still had two-character names. However, the rulers of the Han Dynasty strictly prohibited people and officials from using the royal family name. Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu changed "Xiucai" to "Xiucai". "Maocai" Emperor Han'an's father's name was Qing, so he ordered the people's surnames to be changed from "Qing" to "He". All those with the surname Qing in the world were changed to He.
After Wang Mang usurped power, Wang Mang ordered that the name of the incompetent Han Ping Emperor Liu Jizi be changed to Liu Qu. From then on, the common people no longer dared to use two-character names. Not only the common people, but also the Huns did not escape the harassment of changing their names. The Huns originally had many characters in their names. Wang Mang saw that this was not possible. Please simplify it for me. Simplify it. into two words. "Book of the Former Han·Biography of the Xiongnu" records: A person named "Nang Ya Zhi Shi Si Qing" abruptly changed his name to "Zhi"
But in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, three-character names began to become popular. , this fashion trend was originated by the royal family and the upper class. It is just to add a virtual character after the name. In fact, this virtual character has no meaning at all. It is just for fashion, foreign style and to show one's nobility, for example: Wang Xizhi. His son's name is Xuanzhi, who is dedicated to Xianzhi.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, two-character single names still accounted for the majority, and there were also three-character double names. The government at that time did not impose any interference, and people could call them whatever they liked, but two-character names The single name is still mainstream.
In the late Qing Dynasty, three-character double names began to appear. In the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, people gradually regarded three-character names as a symbol of nobility and class. For example: Zhu Ziqing , Xu Zhimo, Zhang Youyi, Lu Xiaoman. . As for the poor people who are careless people, they usually use two characters. The poor are not so particular, so they can just pick any character and add their surname.
From the late Qing Dynasty until the 1960s and 1970s, most people had double names with three characters, such as Wang Jianjun, Li Aiguo, and Liu Guoqing. In the late 1970s, two-character single names became popular again. Nowadays, many people born between 1975 and 1985 have single names.
Well, in the new century, names have begun to bloom and reach new heights: Lame Yoko, Zhang Liuyucui, Li Wangsong, Jiahao’s parents chose these names because they think such names are domineering, foreign-style, and also have the upper class. tendency.
Today’s names of three characters account for about 80%. Some people add their seniority to their names, while others want to avoid duplication of names.
But there are still some people who like to name their children randomly. I like to use uncommon words or relatively trendy words to name people, but I don’t really realize the true meaning of the word.
Simply thinking that the name sounds nice makes it appear superior.
There are also some people who like to find professional naming experts to name their children. They are influenced by the superstitious idea that names can determine a person's destiny. "Kanyu Baojian" of the Ming Dynasty said: "Giving a child a thousand pieces of gold is not as good as teaching a child a skill, and teaching a child a skill is not as good as giving a child a good name." Of course, this is a superstitious and exaggerated statement, which means: choosing the right name will make you feel good and happy. It will not have a negative impact on your future development.
Look at the names of the cars: Lavida, Accord, Phaeton, Eado, Sylphy. Each word is a commonly used word, and when combined, it gives people a positive and uplifting atmosphere.
Thank you all for reading. Take a look at how many famous scholars and scholars from ancient times to the present have very common names!