In ancient times, people's surnames mainly came from the worship of religion and heaven, and then the 22 oldest surnames were derived. Then slowly these 22 surnames began to have countless branches, and now there are simply too many surnames.
I think the most interesting names are those of King Wu of Qin and Duke of Zhou.
Let’s talk about the name of King Wu of Qin first. The king of the Qin Dynasty was of course named Ying, and the surname Ying is also a very ancient surname. In fact, this name is really easy to name, such as Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng, and Ying Zheng. His father is a foreigner. I think they are all very nice names that fit my modern aesthetics.
But King Wu of Qin, he was actually called Ying Dang. Yes, you read that right, I think everyone knows what the homophone is. Not only does Ying Dang’s name not suit my modern taste, but the way he died also seems absurd to me. He didn't die in battle or from illness. He wanted to show his strength and then smashed himself to death while lifting the cauldron.
Of course, Ying Dang’s Dang actually means to conquer the world, but with this Ying, it’s really hard to watch.
Let’s talk about Duke Zhou. As the founder of Confucianism in China at the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, he was the one whom the Duke of Zhou was talking about. In fact, Duke Zhou is really powerful. His surname is Ji. Yes, you read it right. This is a very ancient surname.
But Duke Zhou’s name is Dan. Together they are eggs. Oh, I'm sorry, I said it wrong, it's Ji Dan. In fact, Dan means Chaoyang, the sun. But it still doesn’t fit my modern aesthetic. If his name was Li Dan, I might think it was normal. Unfortunately, it was Ji Dan.
In fact, the names given by the ancients still have a lot of metaphorical meaning, but because of the surname, it is a bit inconsistent with our modern people's aesthetics.