My sister-in-law’s daughter-in-law just gave birth to a baby girl a few days ago, and her family asked me to name the newborn again.
Although I have repeatedly said that I am not an expert on naming, as long as the name is easy to pronounce, easy to remember, easy to remember, and does not cause any undesirable ambiguities, they still want me to choose it because I combine a variety of naming methods. He named more than a dozen of his descendants.
So, I spent a few days and made a list of a lot of names to choose from. It's a pity that this time is different from the past, and they are not satisfied. Either they think the pronunciation of the characters is not good, or they think that this radical or that radical should be taboo. I didn't know what to do, so I told them over and over again with a smile, don't believe in any rules, just do what you want, there aren't that many taboos.
This time they really took it themselves.
As we all know, Chinese people have always attached great importance to naming. They believe that names are just and true, and they hope that the name will bring good luck in life and honor the ancestors. They are often happy and proud to have a name that they think is a good one. Society seems to have a tendency and atmosphere to judge people by their reputation.
Usually, everyone wants to have a good name for themselves and their family members. This kind of psychology and thinking is mainly due to the following cognitions:
First, it is believed that the name affects or even determines the future and destiny. Some people believe that if you choose a good name, your destiny will not be bad, your career will be successful, your life span will not be short, you will be able to avoid disadvantages and seek advantages, and enjoy the glory and wealth of the world, and vice versa. Especially those naming masters will cite many positive and negative examples and completely mythologize the meaning and function of naming, making you envious and frightened, making people have to believe in the mysterious magic power of names. Who is willing to gamble with their future and go against fate?
Second, I feel that names contain hopes and wishes. A person's name generally accompanies the person throughout his or her entire life, so it is reasonable to attach many goodwill and beautiful connotations to it. Throughout the ages, most of the names of Chinese people have carried this type of information. Those who respect Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, etc. have all infiltrated their own ideologies into their names to varying degrees.
The third is that the name is a business card for a person to enter society and travel around the world. When people live in this world, they really need a symbol to be recognized by their kind, and they need to carry their names on their heads to live out their lives. This is probably a phenomenon unique to humans as advanced animals. A business card or a signboard has words on it that everyone thinks are easy to read, sound, and look good, and contain subtle meanings. If there is some background and background, everyone will say the name well, and they will look at it differently. If you add status and power, when they meet you, they will ask for your name, exaggerate your name, and sigh like thunder, and your next step will naturally be smoother.
Based on the above understanding, all Chinese dynasties, from the emperor to the nobles, literati and bachelors, to the common people, have not dared to take naming lightly.
As a result, surnames and first names were divided into three, six, and nine levels, high and low. The emperor could give names to people to reward them and honor them, or he could give names to demean them and humiliate them. At the same time, naming has gradually spawned an industry, and various naming methods and professional naming masters have emerged.
Today, more than one billion Chinese people need to be named with Chinese characters. Because there are too many Chinese characters for so-called auspiciousness, there are simply not enough. As a result, duplicate names can be seen everywhere. For example, an octogenarian and a young child have the same name and surname, a murderer and a model hero have the same name, and some people with the same name have the same name. Millions more.
In order to avoid duplication of names, everyone moved in various dictionaries and used a large number of rare characters and traditional Chinese characters. As a result, the network font library was expanded again and again, but it still could not meet the needs. Currently in a kindergarten or elementary school class, if you can open your mouth for the first time and pronounce all the names of the class accurately, you can be called a master of writing with profound skills.
In order to facilitate and help with naming, the naming master is very busy. Nowadays, Internet and software naming are popular all over the country. "Scientific" naming, Zhouyi naming, eight-character naming, five-element naming, five-character naming, three-cai naming, and four-pillar naming can be seen everywhere. Especially online naming, you can combine various naming methods. It is called learning from everyone's strengths and using magic medicine at the same time, and it is very fast. Enter your personal birth date and other relevant information, and a lot of names will come out. Of course, the premise is to use bank card, WeChat, Alipay, etc. to transfer the money first.
I suddenly felt that if the above understanding of naming is correct and the whole society agrees with the prosperity of the naming industry, then China’s naming industry must be The most popular, greatest, most respected and magnificent industry that will go down in history forever! Why? Because it stabilizes and prospers a country! When everyone has a well-known and good name, then everyone's life will be brilliant, and the streets will be filled with gentlemen, virtuous and talented people. The country will not have to worry about education and management at all, and the country and society will naturally The Haiyan River is clear and peaceful, and the country and the people are at peace. With such merits and virtues, it is impossible to praise the name-taking karma too much.
But unfortunately, this is not the case, and it is simply not possible in reality. Names have no pre-programmed, mysterious power to control life. The naming industry is just an industry. The purpose of this industry is just to make money, and it is not that noble and great.
Don’t you see, among the 83 dynasties and 559 emperors in China, how many have lived long? There are only about ten people who can reach the age of 70. The short-lived ones account for the majority. Their names cannot be said badly, they are all rich and noble. Generally speaking, the names of Chinese dynasties can be said to have been given by heaven and lasted for thousands of generations. However, the cyclical rate of history does not allow them to exist for a long time.
You don’t know, if according to the popular naming methods of Bazi, Five Elements, Zhouyi, etc., more than 80% of the names of Chinese people are not very qualified, but don’t most people live well? And among the so-called people with a "good reputation", the proportion of those who have a bad life, are in jail, and die prematurely may not be too small. I am not saying here that the "Zhouyi", the "source of the great road", is not good, but that it is ridiculous to use the "Zhouyi" to deify it and name it.
There are also natural disasters and man-made disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, plagues, flash floods, wars, fires, traffic accidents, etc., which will take the lives of many people and maim many people's bodies. I believe that their names must be "good" and "bad", but no matter which one, they can't protect themselves in the face of disaster.
Of course everyone knows that old and new China are two different worlds, and ordinary Chinese people have two futures and two destinies. I think this is certainly not determined by their names.
From this, I can conclude that a person's name has no direct and inevitable connection with a person's future and destiny, and with the blessings and misfortunes of life. A mythical name cannot influence a person's destiny. The essence of a name is a specific name symbol that distinguishes an individual! However, influenced by many factors such as history, society, and nation, it has a certain meaning. It is even wrapped in a layer of mystery and is linked to things that have not happened such as future and destiny. Just like the theory of evil nature and good nature, when people are young, they are labeled with future politics, thoughts, culture, morality, good and bad, good and bad. I think this is quite ridiculous.
Of course, I couldn’t laugh. Because in naming, the endless debates between facts, science and superstitious myths, necessity and accident, direct and indirect, idealism and materialism, all originate from people's personal concepts and social consciousness. As long as there are different people's concepts and consciousness, this will This debate will never end. Some people think that there is no inevitable connection between the name and the future and destiny, and there is no causal relationship, while some people say that even if they kill me, they will still think that the name affects and determines the destiny.
But no matter what, there is an iron fact that is obvious. That is the overall destiny and future trend of the Chinese people over the past 100 years. It is not determined by names, but by a great political party leading the heroic struggle of the people across the country. The Chinese people have achieved great success through long-term arduous struggle and bloody sacrifice. Changed his own tragic fate. Applying the terminology of the five-frame naming method, this fortune is the real general pattern of every Chinese person, a historical pattern of good fortune and good fortune! From this, standing up, getting rich, and becoming strong will not be achieved by everyone's good name, but by the struggle of everyone from generation to generation!
The right to name is the basic right of every Chinese citizen clearly stated in the Constitution. What surname, what name to choose, and how to choose it are not the affairs of non-interested parties. The author just thinks that as long as our names are louder, nicer, unambiguous, beautiful, full of rhythm, full of affection, full of hope, and can inspire ourselves to work hard and fight tenaciously. Even if they are not unique, they are still good names. Other than that, it is all nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, false theories, and deceptions.
We cannot put the weight of our destiny on the scale of name, but on the scale of struggle.
Just pick a name and use it as a mark of identification and a word of struggle.
I’m going too far, stop it. I wish my sister-in-law’s newborn granddaughter a beautiful name to accompany her as she grows up happily.
Written in Crane City on January 23, 2022