Meaningful names
The so-called allegorical nature of a person’s name refers to the meaning contained in the name itself and the function given when naming it. Due to the inherent characteristics of Chinese culture, Chinese people always pay attention to the meaning and implication of words when naming. Traditionally, when people choose certain words as names, the first thing they consider is the meaning of the words themselves, and what meaning they can be given as names later. For example, in our country's traditional society, people pay more attention to respecting their ancestors and their descendants, so when naming, they often use "ancestor", "zong", "jing", "shao", "guang", "heir" and "xian" etc., and take names such as Shaoxian, Jingzu, Guangzong, Yansi, Yinsun, etc. Among them, using "Shaoxian" and "Jingzu" as names means remembering the achievements of ancestors and inheriting the legacy of ancestors, which is a reflection of the name's expectation of "inheriting the ancestors"; using "Guangzong" and "Yansi" as names means The hope that the descendants will carry forward one's own career and the prosperity of the clan is a reflection of the desire to "enlighten the queen" and "prosper the clan" in naming a famous person; using "Yin Sun" as a name is to hope that one's fortune can protect the descendants, and it is also a "name of a famous person". A reflection of the desire to open up the future. It can be seen that no matter what words are used in the name, the meaning of these words is equally important. When choosing a name, you should consider the meaning of the person's name. The reason is of course also affected by the characteristics of the Chinese characters themselves. Because Chinese characters have a higher information density than alphabetic characters, they are a highly ideographic character. Not only does each character have multiple meanings and a strong ability to form words, but most of them can be independently formed into words. [These characteristics mentioned above all lead to extremely high usage and reading efficiency of Chinese characters.
According to relevant expert research, in more than 98% of written expressions such as books, newspapers and magazines in our country, the most commonly used words are only about 2,000. On average, Chinese expressions of the same content are shorter than words in any other alphabetic language. At the same time, "morpheme", the smallest unit of meaning in Chinese, is equivalent to "vocabulary" and "phrase" in English. Most Chinese characters can independently form morphemes, and two or more Chinese characters with a local origin form a word. Due to the high efficiency of the use of Chinese characters, hundreds of thousands of words can be easily formed from several thousand commonly used characters, of which tens of thousands are commonly used words alone. Although it is difficult for us to master these terms in our daily lives, it is still necessary to understand their basic characteristics. As for naming, making the name full of meaning and giving people a clear, elegant and friendly feeling is not only a tradition of our country, but also a requirement that Chinese characters themselves put forward for us. When we talk about names, the meaning of the words should be clear, which means that it should be easy to understand and make people strong at first glance. It means that we hope that his will will be strong in the future and he will be an independent and courageous person. Naming your child' "Beautiful" also hopes that the child will grow up and become a dignified and elegant person in the future. These are better names. If you name your child "Facai", "Fuqiang", "Xiuhua", '. Although "Hongying" also has a certain meaning, it is a bit tacky under the current circumstances. Some celebrities in ancient and modern my country have not only made contributions to the country and society to varying degrees, but most of their names are simple, lively and have profound meanings. For example, Li Bai, Du Fu, Zi Juyi, Yue Fei, Wang Anshi, Wen Tianxiang, Shi Kefa, etc. are all like this. Another example is Ding Xuesong, my country's first female ambassador. The name of the celebrity is very elegant, hoping that she will have perseverance. The effect of will is obviously much more elegant than "strong" and so on. People are emotional animals. A good name will increase people's pleasure and good impression, while a tacky and boring name will undoubtedly reduce it invisibly. For example, someone once told a story: In the United States, someone conducted an experiment in which they took photos of 30 young girls and asked male college students to comment on them, and then marked their names on the photos. Let these college students re-evaluate.
As a result, the evaluations of the girls with beautiful names were even better, and the evaluations of the girls with good names were lowered due to the bad names. Similarly, young people in our country. When introducing a target, if there are two men and two women named Zhang Huajian, Wang Baoshuan, Li Weiwei, and Zhao Qiuju, and the conditions are basically the same in all aspects, and they are asked to select the target based on their names, then the result will definitely be that the man is selected first. The name is Zhang Huajian, and the female name is Li Weiwei. The reason for this is of course that he (she) has a more elegant name. Many people have always tried hard to consider the meaning of the name in order to choose a name that is pleasing to the eye. things to do.
Of course, it is undeniable that there are indeed people in life who choose names too casually, so that the names they give have bad connotations and are even vulgar. The above situation mostly occurs in double names. Since a single name uses only one character, it lacks richness compared to a two-character name. If there are too many duplicate names, it is difficult to see its personality.
A cookie-cutter name can easily turn the name itself into a symbol, thereby losing its role of expressing hope. Investigating the reasons, some may be due to limited cultural level, even if they think of more elegant names, they are unable to accurately express their deep thoughts or hopes in words, or they are following the herd mentality, or they are trying to keep up with the situation. As a result, a large number of names such as Liberation, Founding of the People's Republic, National Day, Aid to Korea, and Leap Forward emerged in the 1950s. In the 1960s, names such as Cultural Revolution, Guards, and Xuedong could be seen everywhere. These names are easy to hear and fashionable, but once times change, such names will inevitably become embarrassing and even made fun of. Some people choose names to save trouble and like to use ready-made buzzwords, such as progress, victory, health, success, bright, beautiful, etc., are often used as names. In addition, according to reports, a family of brothers and sisters in Shanxi, my country, were named plan, route, principle, policy, and completion respectively. These names may seem commemorative at first glance, but they seem too trendy and cannot be associated with good names. Together. Furthermore, from a linguistic point of view, the above-mentioned names are all two-syllable words, which also goes against the traditional habit of using monosyllable words in naming in my country. The so-called disyllabic words are words with two characters. Most names made with two-syllable words have a single meaning and are vulgar and stingy. Such names are not worth advocating. As for monosyllabic words, that is, one word is one word. For example, in the name of Xin Qiji, a famous poet in the Song Dynasty, "Qi" means "abandonment" or "rejection", and "Disease" means "disease". The two words together form a phrase, which means to be healthy and away from diseases. Use The name means that his parents wish him a safe life. Such a name not only looks unique and sounds loud, but is also solemn and generous with rich meanings, fully complying with the traditional requirement of using monosyllabic words for naming. Paying attention to the meaning of the name when naming is actually a common practice at all times and in all countries. This is not only the case in our country, but also in many countries in the world. However, when these names are translated into Chinese, since most of them are translated according to the pronunciation, the meaning of the name cannot be understood. Translate it. For example, the famous American writer Sholom Rabinovich once had the pen name Sholom Alham, in which "Alham" means "May you be safe"; another American writer Mark Twain's name means "boatman's chant", and Argentinian writer Roncay's name means "tough guy". But when they are translated, they can only be homophonic translations, turning these originally clear names into boring text piles, and also causing many difficulties for people to remember these names. These examples also illustrate from another aspect that what to name is not a simple matter. In addition to other principles we must consider when naming, its meaning is also very important. In short, a person's name should be called and looked at by others. It is very important to make it look good, sound good, and have a beautiful meaning. It would be even more ideal if it can be remembered by people's eyes and ears. In fact, good names that meet the above requirements are often those that are more elegant and meaningful. For example, the name "Liu Chang" uses the homophony of "fluid", which expresses a fresh and bright meaning; the name "Tang Qianyan" is taken from the poem "Yan in front of Wangxie Hall in the old days" and uses homophony to express a similar meaning; "Hua Er" The name "real" changes the idiom of "flashy" to express the opposite meaning. The name "Li Rubai" borrows the name of the great poet Li Bai to mean "like Li Zi". These names have elegant meanings and are easy to remember, fully complying with the naming principle of "clear and elegant meanings" discussed in this section.