The word originated in the Shang Dynasty and flourished in the Zhou Dynasty. It was a very common system until the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is rarely used now. Most of them are literati and people who like history. A habit of people. In ancient times, it was impolite to call each other by their first names, so calling each other by the same name showed respect. The name can only be what your elders call you, or what you call yourself.
People nowadays generally have only one name, but in ancient times, people not only had names, but also words, and even numbers. For example, we are all familiar with the great poet Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty. His name is Bai Juyi, and his nickname is Lotte. He also has a nickname, which is the name of the ancient Xiangshan layman. To be precise, it should be divided into three types: first name, courtesy name, and nickname. The name is the formal name for oneself, the word is the continuation of this name, and the number expresses one's ambition.
So why did ancient people go to so much trouble to not only have a name, but also a word? It turns out that it all starts with an ancient book. In the feudal era, people respected Confucianism. There was a Confucian classic called "Book of Rites", which recorded the rituals followed by people before the Qin Dynasty, which had a great influence on the rituals of later generations. Why do we now claim to be a country of etiquette? It is because people have always attached great importance to etiquette.
There are various records about etiquette in the "Book of Rites", including the etiquette about names and characters. As the saying goes, "a man has twenty hairpins and a Chinese character" and "a woman has fifteen hairpins and a Chinese character." When boys and girls in ancient times came of age, their parents and elders held coming-of-age ceremonies for them. After the coming-of-age ceremony is completed, the children will be taught calligraphy. With the words, it means that the children have officially grown up.
When the ancients generally addressed others, they were not allowed to call them by their first names. They usually called them by their first names. If the young people don't have words yet, they will say: they are young and have no appearance. Therefore, the purpose of choosing a name is to let others respect him and avoid calling him by his first name.
In fact, more ancient common people did not even have names, especially ancient girls. This was also an area of ??inequality in feudal society. In ancient times, common people were not well educated and did not know many words, so they often did not name their children. Just give them random names such as Goudan, Maodan and so on.