Names are probably created to distinguish each other. Xu Shen mentioned in Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "A famous person is pretentious. From morning till night. In the evening, ghosts came. If you don't meet each other, call yourself by mouth. " According to him, it means that people walk on the road at night and call themselves when they meet someone who doesn't know who they are. This is the origin of the name.
Surname is a symbol of a family, which is shared with others, but the name is different. The name represents the symbol of the individual itself and belongs to the individual. In addition, the names and characters of the ancients have different origins. For example, the ancients will be famous after birth, and there will be words in adulthood.
There are related records in the Book of Rites Quli, "Men are twenty, and they are crowned. Before the father, the child's name; Before the monarch, my name. The woman promised to get married, and she was embarrassed. " The most important point is that both men and women can only take messages when they reach adulthood, with the aim of showing adulthood, and then when people address them, they just address them as a form of respect.
The difference between ancient "name" and "word"
1, synonymous with each other.
In this case, the meaning of a name and a word is the same, for example, Qu Yuan's name is Ping, the word is Yuan, and Guangping is Yuan; Xu Fan, a disciple of Confucius, is late, which must be synonymous with being late, all meaning waiting; Yan Hui, the word Zi Yuan, according to Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "Yuan, backwater also. Back, deep water. " Another example is Gao Shi, the word Damien duff, which is accessible; Zhang Heng, the word is flat and the balance is flat. Such things are synonyms for each other.
2. Antisense opposition.
In this case, the meaning of a name and a word is opposite, which is quite intriguing. For example, Han Yu, the word "retreat" is more and more counterproductive; Yan Shu, the word is the same as uncle; Wang Ji, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, has no words. Bai Song, a scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, was named Tai Su; Tang Si-tui and Zi Jin in the Southern Song Dynasty.
3. according to the meaning.
That is, the words corresponding to the names are related affairs, such as Confucius' students Ran Geng and Bo Niu; Sima Geng, Zi Niuzi, etc. , the name and the word just synthesized the word "cattle".
4. Causality.
That is, taking the name as the cause and the word as the fruit, such as Zheng Chong in the Tang Dynasty, if the word is surprised, it will constitute "flattered"; Cai Liang, the minister of the Ming Dynasty, used a word: "Since God has given talents, let them be used!" In terms of language.