There are many origins of place names, mainly the meanings that people usually give to place names. To sum up, there are roughly five different types of naming: social, contemporary, national, regional, and essential characteristics.
First, according to the development of social development level and the accumulation of knowledge, it is finally named after dissemination and screening;
Second, it is named after the symbol of an era;
Third, naming reflects a nation’s customs, habits, psychological characteristics, etc.;
Fourth, naming based on the natural phenomena and humanistic characteristics of the time;
Fifth, Name it according to its essential characteristics (mainly referring to geographical nouns, spatial location, social influence, etc.). Every place is named with its own different meaning.
For example, Beijing has had many names since ancient times, such as Yandu, Youzhou, Jingcheng, Nanjing, Dadu, Peiping, Jingshi, etc. According to records, "Yandu" was in 1122 BC. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the capital of Yan State in ancient times was named according to the symbol of his era. "Youzhou" refers to the cold and cold north, so it is named Netherworld. In ancient times, it was divided into nine states, of course called "Youzhou", which was named after natural phenomena.
"Jingcheng" in Chinese means the capital of the country, and it is named according to its essential characteristics. In the Liao Dynasty, "Nanjing" established five major capitals based on the characteristics of the ethnic minorities at that time, namely Linhuangfu in Shangjing, Dadingfu in Zhongjing, Liaoyangfu in Tokyo, Datongfu in Xijing and Xijinfu in Nanjing. Nanjing at that time was Today's Beijing is named according to national customs and psychological characteristics. "Dadu" was renamed "Dadu" in 1272 of the Yuan Dynasty. "Dadu" means "Khan Bali" in Turkic language, which is the "residence of the Great Khan". It was also named according to the customs and habits of the nation. "Beiping" was renamed after Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed the Yuan Dynasty. He meant to pacify the north, and it was named after a symbol of an era. "Beijing" refers to the Yongle year of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yongle changed Peking to Shuntianfu and established the city of Beijing. It was officially named Beijing and has a history of more than 600 years.