Are you familiar with the word "generation"? That is, people often say that there are generations at home. Young friends who grew up in the city may not know much about it. The naming of "word generation", which has been passed down for thousands of years, was still very popular decades ago, but it is no longer taken seriously.
Ci generation is also called "Ci school". In this way, you can directly reflect the seniority of a person in your family in your name. The same family, whether two people know each other or not, knows each other's seniority by name.
The origin of word generation
Some people say that Daizi originated in the Tang Dynasty. For example, among the 22 sons, except the eldest son Li, the second son Li Xuanba and the third son Li Xuanba, all the names of 16 have the word "yuan". In fact, this naming method existed in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The eldest son and the second son of Sima Yao, the filial piety emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, were named Sima Dezong and Sima Wende respectively. But until the early Tang Dynasty, there was no formal word generation.
After textual research, Han Yu wrote Han's Ci Dai. The Book of Old Tang Dynasty only mentions that Han Yu's son is called Han Chang, and Ming Lun's Genealogy records that Han Chang also has a younger brother named Han Pang. The names of Han Chang's five sons are, Han Wan, Han Qian, Han Qi and Han Shu, all beside the word "four", but this naming method is only the embryonic form of the generation of characters, indicating that there was no formal generation of characters at that time.
The word generation really appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a record of imperial edict system in the Song Dynasty, in which the chapter "Imperial clan" mentioned that Song Taizu and Zhao Kuangyin initiated the generation of characters.
Because the ancients used single-word names, the phenomenon of overlapping names of the royal family at that time was serious. "There are several people with the same name and surname, or swearing with other elders." In other words, not only are there several people with the same name and surname in the same generation, but the names of some younger generations are also taboo by uncles and elders, which is quite confusing. "Therefore, the joint name system has been determined." The joint name is the word generation spectrum.
phylogenetic tree
It is recorded in the article that "under the three ancestors, the clan is linked, and Taizu said: I only obey the world and am the teacher of Xi and Meng You. Emperor Taizong said: in Yuan Yun, Zhongzong is not good, and you will be good friends. ……"
Then, the sons we know are "German" generation, including Zhao, Zhao and others; Song Taizong's descendants began with the word "Yuan", such as his third son Song Zhenzong, whose original name was Zhao Dechang, and later changed to Zhao and Zhao Yuankan. This naming method solves the problem of naming confusion in the family. According to the name of the clan, it can also be intuitively determined that he is a descendant of this branch.
In addition, the Song Dynasty's Supplement to Zi Zhi Tong Jian also recorded that Zhao Kuangyin drafted a substitute character.
Vigorous development
New words are undoubtedly very important, and they are endowed with beautiful meanings, such as self-cultivation, family harmony, good luck and prosperity. , usually represents the respect and praise of future generations to their ancestors, or the ardent hopes and blessings of their ancestors.
There are two main forms of ci generation spectrum, one can be regarded as poetic style and the other is couplet. Of course, the first category does not belong to the real poetic style, because it does not pay much attention to antithesis or leveling. If classified as poetic style, four fonts and five fonts are often used, and five fonts are more widely used because they are easy to read. In addition, there are six characters, seven characters and eight characters.
After each family's word generation spectrum is compiled, one often chooses a name according to the word generation before birth, that is, the spectrum name.
Let's take Fan Zhongyan, a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, and his family as an example. Fan's word generation is "the male of Chunzhong, a good scholar, and his uncle is friendly and peaceful." Fan Zhongyan's son is pure, his four sons are Fan Chunyou, Fan Chunren, Fan Chunli and Fan Chun, and then the word generation is positive.