The so-called "name" refers to surnames and given names. It is a group symbol of a family or clan with a blood relationship. It is an important basis for maintaining blood relationships and distinguishing ethnic groups in human society. Names reflect the origin and national culture of a country and are an important part of culture. Naming refers to giving a suitable name to a newborn based on various cultural laws and combining it with the family's surname. Chinese culture is extensive and profound, and Chinese characters have rich meanings. Thousands of years of history and culture have given the Chinese nation the most unique and profound naming culture, of which naming taboos are an important part.
As early as the Zhou Dynasty in China, there were "seven no-nos" in naming: not named after the country, not named after the official position, not named after the sun and the moon, not named after the mountains and rivers, and not named after the mountains and rivers. It should be named after livestock, not on utensils and silk, and not on hidden diseases. This is the earliest naming taboo in China. Nowadays, the taboo on naming has changed a lot with the changes of the times and the development of society and culture. After thousands of years of evolution, there are more and more taboos on naming. This article classifies common taboos on naming into two categories: taboos on pronunciation and shape of characters, and taboos on word meanings.
2. The manifestations of Chinese naming taboos
Naming taboos related to the pronunciation and shape of characters
Chinese people attach great importance to the pronunciation of names and the use of Chinese characters when naming. The writing form has triggered some cultural taboos in naming, which are listed below:
One of the taboos is to avoid the names of ancestors and venerables. The most important thing to avoid when naming is that it cannot have the same character, or even synonyms, or pronunciation with the emperor. The same goes for ancestors and sages. Otherwise, it will be unfaithful and unfilial. This taboo actually includes both the pronunciation and the shape of the character. Since Confucianism attaches great importance to patriarchal blood relations, Chinese people generally understand and deal with interpersonal relationships based on the concept of patriarchal blood family. Avoiding the names of elders has become a major ethical principle and a national virtue. "Today, although there is no need to avoid the taboo of emperors' names, nor the taboo of elders' names, it is still extremely impolite to address elders by their first names, which shows the profound impact of this taboo on the Chinese people."
The second taboo is to avoid words with bad numerology. Chinese people firmly believe that the homophony of names can bring good and bad luck to people, and many Chinese people believe that the glyphs and strokes of a name are closely related to a person's destiny when naming. They believe that the glyphs and strokes of a name reflect the person's numerology. If you give a good name, even bad luck can be turned into good luck; on the contrary, if the glyphs and strokes of the name represent bad numerology, it may bring trouble or even disaster to the person with this name. This is popular in China. Influenced by the deep-rooted Yi family thoughts. The relationship between the mathematics of name strokes and the yin and yang and the five elements is calculated based on the eight trigrams in the ancient Chinese classic "Book of Changes". Therefore, before naming their children, many Chinese people now have to find someone who knows how to calculate the eight trigrams to find a suitable one based on the child's birth date and horoscope. The strokes and appropriate radicals should be found to have good numerology for the child, and it is taboo to use words that have bad numerology. According to the view of yin and yang and five elements in the "Book of Changes", a person's fortune can be calculated from his birth date, and then a name can be found that can make the fortune better. For example, if a person is a fire person, it is best to have the word "wood" in the name, or with this radical word, because "wood makes fire" and fire depends on wood fuel to keep burning; the most important thing when naming this person is Men who are related to "water" should be avoided because "water defeats fire", that is, water can extinguish fire.
The third taboo is to avoid unfamiliar and difficult words. Chinese people pay special attention to the goodwill between people and pay attention to the harmony of interpersonal relationships. This should also be reflected in the name. Therefore, when naming, avoid using unfamiliar or difficult words, and find a suitable name from commonly used Chinese characters. .
In addition, there are several taboos in terms of pronunciation and glyphs, such as taboos on polyphonic characters, monotonous repetition of initials and vowels, and monotonous repetition of fonts. The avoidance of polyphonic characters is for the convenience of address; the avoidance of monotonous repetition of initials and finals is due to the beauty and rhythm of the sound; the avoidance of monotonous repetition of fonts is due to the beauty of writing names, such as Wang Yu, Zhang Chi and other parts Names with the same or similar first radicals are not good names because of the lack of variation and a sense of monotony no matter how they are arranged in calligraphy or signature.
Name taboos related to the meaning of characters
In addition to the pronunciation and shape of characters, Chinese people also attach great importance to the associations of Chinese characters or their homophonic meanings in names when naming, which has triggered some The cultural taboos in naming are listed below:
One of the taboos is the avoidance of indecent homophonics. The so-called "homonym" means that A and B are two words or Chinese characters with the same pronunciation but different characters, but using A can easily remind people of B. If B happens to be an ugly character, then A or other Chinese characters that have the same or close pronunciation with B They also need to be avoided as much as possible. When naming, Chinese people try to avoid using words that have the same or close pronunciation with unsightly Chinese characters. Although this type of taboo is superficially related to the pronunciation of a word, it is essentially a type of taboo that is more closely related to the meaning of the word. Chinese characters have very rich meanings, and there are many Chinese characters that have the same sound but different shapes. For example: "king" and "death", "zhu" and "pig", "four" and "death", etc. When choosing a name, many people only pay attention to the meaning of the word and ignore whether the homophonic word or group of words in the name has a derogatory connotation. Therefore, there are some names that look nice and elegant, but because they sound the same or similar in pronunciation to some offensive words, they are easily laughed at by others. Such as: He Shang, Lu Hui, etc.
The second taboo is not to distinguish between genders. Names are closely related to our lives. Generally, boys’ names should reflect masculinity, while girls’ names should be full of feminine beauty. If gender factors are not taken into consideration when naming, you may encounter a lot of trouble if you use a male name for a girl and a female for a male name.
The third taboo is to avoid implicit words. Modesty is a traditional virtue of the Chinese people, so self-promotion and boasting are taboo when naming. A name stays with a person for a lifetime, so the name should be elegant and subtle. Names such as "Hail," "Great," and "Xiongcai" are too superficial, while names such as "Superman," "Excellent," and "Invincible" are too arrogant. Unsubtle boastful words should be avoided when naming. If this taboo is violated, it may cause negative psychological experiences in the audience.