In traditional clan culture, names are endowed with unique meanings. In order to better inherit and distinguish the lineage between the same clan, the ancients named names not only with emphasis on meaning, but also with emphasis on connotation. They were different in seniority and order, and they also had to avoid using the names of their ancestors, so word generations came into being.
According to reports, the names of the ancient people in China often included characters, numbers, etc. Besides their names, they later evolved into a family-style naming method based on "surname of ten generations+first name". Generations, as a convention in genealogy, can not be lightly changed. In addition to stipulating the vertical blood relationship of the family, it also implies fame and ideals. For example, in A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia's generation is determined by the radicals of their names, and most families add a third word between their surnames and their first names, for example, Kong's surname is auspicious, Ling's surname is academic and Zhang's surname is academic. According to this tradition, many children have not yet been born, and at least two words in their names have already been stipulated by the family elders.
However, with the emergence of a large number of new names with political meanings in 195s and 196s, such as "Founding of the People's Republic of China" and "Construction", the traditional festivals were simplified, the naming became more independent, and the pressure of social renaming was alleviated. According to the data, there are 1,61 surnames in China, and if parents' surnames are adopted, it will increase to 1.28 million. On the other hand, the new naming method makes many modern families in danger of losing their roots. A survey of thousands of people in urban areas shows that 5 % of young people around the age of 2 do not know that there is a generational naming tradition; 8% people in this age group don't know their seniority.
Some sociologists are worried that the original surnames can be distinguished by their generations. Once they are not according to their generations, they will be inconvenient to recognize relatives and may even lead to inbreeding.
With the development of economy, the increasing enrichment of people's material and cultural life and the increasing infiltration of eastern and western cultures, the diversification of names has become an irreversible trend of the times.