When we read ancient books or TV series now, we often hear so-and-so, with the word Yunchang. For example, Guan Yu, the word Yunchang. Ancient people generally had names and characters, and names generally refer to names or given names. In ancient times, children were named by their parents after they were born. The characters are different. Men choose the characters when they are crowned, and women choose the characters when they are 15 years old. The words used are different, but in fact they all have a certain connection.
China has a rich and colorful surname culture, and the ancients also had a complete set of rules for naming. "Shuowen", China's first dictionary, explains "name" in this way: "Name means self-named. It comes from the mouth of Xi, and Xi means Ming. Ming does not meet each other, so it is named after the mouth." It means that it becomes dark after dusk. If we don't know each other, we will give everyone a code name. We all belong to the same clan and tribe, so we can't all call them Big Dog and Ergou. It doesn't sound good and is not easy to distinguish, so we have the name.
In fact, the functions of names and words are different. The name is to distinguish one's identity, and the word is to distinguish one's superiority from inferiority. Calling children by their first names is cordial, but addressing adults is less polite. Therefore, the ancients named the child by his father three months after his birth, and used it as a title for family members or for self-proclaimed children. The name is relatively late, usually when a man is 20 years old when he holds the "Crown Ceremony", and when a woman is 15 years old when she holds the "Hairhair Ceremony", the word is used for other names. In other words, calling someone by one's name means modesty; calling someone by another person's name means respecting oneself. For example, the famous patriotic general Yue Fei, also named Pengju. When he introduces himself, he will probably say that he is "A Fei" to show humility, while his friends usually call him "Peng Ju" to show respect and elegance.
The word "name" means that the ancients had both names and words, and the two are related to each other. For example, in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" you can see this sentence, "A certain surname is Guan and his name is Yu, and his nickname is Yunchang." Therefore, the function of the character is to supplement or explain the name. The ancients generally used two methods to select characters. First, "name" and "zi" have similar meanings, or "zi" is a further elaboration of "name". For example, Qu Yuan, the great patriotic poet of the Chu State during the Spring and Autumn Period, was named Ping and had the courtesy name Yuan, because "Yuan" means broad and flat, corresponding to "Ping".
Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty and the "Immortal of Poetry", whose given name is Bai and whose courtesy name is Taibai, is probably named "Bai" because of his fair skin. "Taibai"; "Poetry Saint" Du Fu, whose name is Fu and whose courtesy name is Zimei, because "Fu" is explained in "Shuowen" as a good name for a man. It can be seen that Du Fu's father hoped that his son would become a handsome boy. Second, the meanings of "name" and "character" are opposite. For example, Han Yu, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, was named "Yu". "Yu" means further, so he chose the word "Tuizhi" to be more modest. In short, the names and characters of ancient people, whether synonymous or antonymic, always have a certain connection. The character is an explanation of the name, just like the extension of a computer file.
Note: As for the origin of Li Bai's name, the preface to "Thatched Cottage Collection" written by Li Yangbing in the Tang Dynasty said: "..., on the night when Jiang was frightened, Chang Geng fell into a dream. Therefore, he was named Bai, with the word Taibai." . This means that before Li Bai was born, his mother dreamed that Taibai Star entered her dream, and the child was born immediately, so he was named Li Bai, with the courtesy name Taibai.