In ancient China, surname, surname, given name, and character were four completely different things. It was not until modern times that they were classified into two units: surname and given name.
1. Surnames
Starting from the earliest matrilineal clan, each tribe has a unique female ancestor. At this time, adult women must stay in their own clan and engage in group marriages with men of the same generation from other clans. Men, on the other hand, have to go to other clans to have children with other women. In this kind of social relationship, children often only know their mother but not their father, so they can only take their mother's surname. Among ancient surnames, many have the word "女" next to them, such as: Jiang, Ji, Ying, etc. These are all family surnames, and "surname" is the old family name.
As the population expands, a tribe naturally divides into different branches and gradually become independent. At this time, in order to distinguish them, each branch will set up another title for itself, which is the origin of "Shi". For example, the ancestors of the Shang people were named Zi, and later they were divided into Yin, Lai, Song and other surnames. The origins of surnames are diverse and can come from the names of ancestors, such as Xuanyuan. It can come from the profession of ancestors, such as witchcraft and pottery. There are many other sources, too many to list here.
The surname has a longer history than the surname, and has been gradually replaced by the surname during social changes, showing certain class characteristics. "Tongzhi Clan Preface" mentions that noble people have surnames, and humble people have no surnames. For example, Sima and Situ are surnames born out of official positions, and Wen, Jing, and Wu are mostly derived from the posthumous names of their ancestors. The surname of the name, Lu, Chu, Qin, comes from the place where they lived, and often the surname is not something that poor and humble people can have.
Before the Zhou Dynasty, surnames and surnames had different functions. Men and women with the same surname and different surnames cannot intermarry. However, people with different surnames and the same surname can intermarry. In the pre-Qin period, only nobles could use surnames. For example, "Pao Ding" was a cook named Ding. The public transport class was called "Lu Ban" but was not named "Lu", but was just the "Ban" of Lu State. During the Qin and Han dynasties, surnames and surnames were gradually unified into one thing, playing the same social role, and also entered the homes of ordinary people.
It is worth mentioning that for women, the surname is more important than the first name. Before getting married, add "Meng", "Bo", "Ji" and other rankings before the surname as a title. After getting married, the name of the country of origin is added before the surname, such as "Qi, Qin, Lu". When addressing women, they often add the character "surname" after their surname, such as the familiar "Zhang family, Wang family, Xu family". This type of system has evolved in later generations, but it was already formed in the pre-Qin period.
2. Names
The difference between names and characters is clearly written in many documents. For example, "Book of Rites Tan Gong Shang" says: "young name, crown character", when a person is born When he was born, he had no name or words. Three months after he was born, he would be given a name. This is the "baby name". After adulthood, the crowning ceremony is performed, and the crowning ceremony is completed, and the person can enter society. There is a saying in "Book of Rites: The Ceremony of the Crowning of Scholars" that "the person is crowned with the word, and his name is respected." The king and father are called by their names before others, and others are called by their names. In other words, after a person reaches adulthood, the name given by his elders is no longer suitable to be called directly in social situations. He has to choose a new name for his peers and younger people to call him, and then he has the word "zi". The word ? is common to both men and women and is not exclusive to men. In the third chapter of "Dream of Red Mansions", Jia Baoyu asked Daiyu what her sister's name was, and Daiyu said her name. But when Baoyu asked, "What's the word for it?", Lin Daiyu said, "No word." This is because Daiyu is under fifteen years old and is not married, so she does not have her own "word". "The Book of Rites" says that "a woman's hairpin is only fifteen years old". This means that a woman's coming-of-age ceremony is at the age of fifteen, and she can get married after that. At this time, it has its own "word". The so-called "waiting in the boudoir" comes from this. The character? can be one character or two characters, but the majority are double characters, and longer ones are rare. For example, Qu Yuan's first name is Ping and his courtesy name is Yuan, which is a single character. Yue Fei, whose given name is Fei and also has the courtesy name Pengju, are two characters. There are many ways to choose words, but they must be related to the name. "Yan's Family Instructions and Customs" says that the name should be in correct form and the words should express virtue. This is exactly what it means. It can be used in a close sense, or it can be extended with some metaphors, or even antonyms and opposites. There are many methods, so I won’t go into details here.