As mentioned above, in recent years, there is a saying in our country that "people with the same name cause disaster", which means that too many people with the same name have become a disaster. Let’s leave aside whether this statement is a bit alarmist or exaggerated, but it is also true that there are many people with the same name. As for the reasons for the same name, there are of course many aspects. For example, the use of surnames in our country is too concentrated. Nearly 85% of people only use 100 major surnames, and the characters that can be used for naming are very limited, making the same name inevitable. In addition, from the perspective of naming, some reasons are related to improper naming methods. This kind of naming method is inappropriate. The most important thing is to blindly follow the trend and blindly choose a single name.
Therefore, in order to reduce the social problems caused by the same name, using a single name is also an important taboo. A single name is also called a single-character name, and together with a single surname, it is called a two-character name, and is distinguished from a three-character name that is a double name (double-character name). If we look back at the history of naming in our country, we can find that the habit of naming single names in our country has a long history, and it was the biggest feature of naming in the Han and Tang Dynasties. Many famous historical figures at that time, such as Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, Xiao He, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, and the great poet Li Bai all had single names. Although the names of Zhuge Liang, a famous figure in the Three Kingdoms, and Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, have three characters, because they are compound surnames, their names are still one character and are single names. The reason for this is that on the one hand, people at that time still advocated simplicity in naming, and it was simpler and easier to give single names than double names; and secondly, it was because Wang Mang promoted the system of changing double names to single names during the Han Dynasty, the details of which have been seen earlier in this book. as stated in the relevant section. What needs to be added here is that our country's population was not large at that time. Although there were many people with the same name because of their single names, the overall number was not large, and the ancients did not issue a call similar to today's "same name causes disaster". Today's namesakes are different from the situation during the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the reasons are more complicated.
Since the Song Dynasty, "family names" or "generation names" have been popular in my country. Although the name is like a single name, only one character belongs to oneself, and the other two characters belong to the family and peers respectively. However, because it is combined with the surname to form a three-character name, and the differences in surnames and generational language between families and generations are generally large, so although the population after the Song Dynasty is compared with that of the Han and Tang Dynasties There has been a huge increase, and the number of people even reached 400 million during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty. However, because there are not many people with single names, the phenomenon of the same name is not prominent. Only since the New Culture Movement started around the 1920s, especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, has society demanded that people break with the old tradition, "overthrow the Confucian shop", and abolish the use of "zi" in addition to their names. , along with the habit of naming, there has gradually been a tendency to simplify naming, and euphemistically call it concise and bright. As a result, fewer and fewer people have "general names" or "generation names", and only family names are left in their names. According to a study on the naming characteristics of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou since 1900, it was found that Beijing has the most names with the same name. Before the 1950s, the top 20 names were all double names. After the 1960s, only single names entered the top 20 rankings. In the 1970s and 1990s, the top 20 names were all single names. Among the names after 2000 There is also an increasing trend of double names. Similarly, the changing patterns of names in Shanghai are generally similar to those in Beijing. However, since the 1950s, single names have entered the top 20 of the rankings, while double names have exceeded half of the rankings after 2000. . Judging from the statistics, the change trend of Shanghai from double names to single names and from single names to double names is faster than that of Beijing. In addition, the pattern of name changes in Guangzhou in each era is similar to that of Beijing and Shanghai. There are differences. The basic characteristic is that most people born before the founding of New China had single names. Especially before the 1930s, single names accounted for the majority. In the 1950s and 1960s, the top 20 names in the rankings were all double names. After the 1970s and 1980s, single names accounted for the majority. The number of names gradually increased, and in the 1990s the top 20 were all double names. After 2000, single names reappeared in the top 20 rankings.
As for the most people with the same name in the two cities, the top 10 in Beijing are Zhang Wei, Wang Wei, Li Wei, Liu Wei, Li Jing, Wang Jing, Zhang Jing, Wang Fang, Liu Yang, Zhang Yong, Shanghai is Chen Jie, Zhang Min, Zhang Wei, Zhang Yan, Wang Xiuying, Zhang Xiuying, Zhang Lei, Wang Wei, Chen Yan, Zhang Jie, Guangzhou is Chen Zhiqiang, Huang Zhiqiang, Li Zhiqiang, Chen Weiqiang, Chen Junjie, Chen Mei, Liang Mei, Huang Junjie, Chen Zhiming, Chen Lihua. In addition to the three cities, the currently known statistical results of cities with the same name include Tianjin. The top 10 are Zhang Wei, Liu Wei, Wang Lei, Wang Wei, Wang Jing, Li Na, Li Jing, Zhang Lei, Li Wei, and Liu Yang. Chongqing is Zhang Wei. Yong, Chen Yong, Liu Yong, Wang Yong, Li Yong, Yang Yong, Chen Wei, Zhang Wei, Liu Yang, Li Wei, Hangzhou is Wang Fang, Chen Yan, Wang Wei, Wang Yan, Chen Jie, Chen Wei, Chen Jie , Chen Min, Li Ping, Chen Chao, Nanjing is Wang Xiuying, Zhang Xiuying, Chen Xiuying, Wang Fang, Wang Wei, Li Xiuying, Zhang Wei, Zhang Min, Wang Jun, Wang Ping, Shenyang is Liu Yang, ***, Zhang Wei, Wang Wei, Li Dan, Li Wei, Liu Wei, Wang Li, Zhang Li, Wang Jing, Hefei is Wang Fang, Wang Wei, Zhang Wei, Wang Yong, Wang Jun, Wang Lei, Zhang Yong, Wang Jun, Zhang Min, Wang Min ,etc. If the names with the most names in 31 municipalities and provincial capitals across the country are put together, the top 10 are Zhang Wei, Wang Wei, Li Wei, Liu Wei, Li Jing, Wang Jing, Zhang Jing, Wang Fang, and Liu Yang , Zhang Yong. It can be seen from the above that the most people with the same name in our country are almost all with single names. The habit of giving single names probably started during the "Cultural Revolution" and has continued for several years. Although it has improved now, many people are still keen on it. Single names. Regarding the popular custom of single names and the specific use of single names, there are some sample survey results for our reference. In 1984, the Chinese Characters Office of the National Language and Writing Committee conducted a survey on the names of 174,900 people. A random inspection found that there were 21,400 single names, accounting for 12.2% of the total number.