Bo Wancang (standing tall on the sky and the earth, the true nature of a man) (from "Jiangchengzi `Hunting in Mizhou" by Su Shi, a poet of the Song Dynasty, "...holding the yellow on the left, holding the blue on the right...")
Notes on naming: Choosing word meanings
Some people choose names for their children without paying attention to the meaning, which is understandable; but sometimes the lack of attention to meaning causes the name to have inappropriate meanings. For example, there is a man whose surname is Duan, and his lover’s surname is Xin, so he names his child Duan Xin. It is easy for people to misunderstand that a section of salary means a cut off of salary or firewood. This is not good. Salaries and firewood are absolutely unacceptable.
For another example, I had a childhood friend named Yin Jian. We would say that he was sinister and treacherous. His name is prone to have different meanings with the same pronunciation and different characters.
A policeman told me a joke, saying that an old lady came to the police station to register her newborn grandson. The old lady said that she would name her grandson Yang Wei, which has the same pronunciation as Yang Wei.
Not only can there be no ambiguity in the meaning of words, but there can also be no ambiguity in pronunciation.