Zhu Yunwen is the son of Zhu Biao, and Zhu Gaochi is the son of Zhu Di. Zhu Biao and Zhu Di are both sons of Zhu Yuanzhang. They are brothers, so Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi are cousins ??and belong to the same generation. Judging from the birth years, Zhu Yunwen was born in 1377 and Zhu Gaochi was born in 1378. Zhu Yunwen was one year older than Zhu Gaochi, so Zhu Yunwen was Zhu Gaochi's cousin. Since they are cousins, why is it that one is from the Yun generation and the other is from the Gao generation, giving the impression that these two are not of the same generation?
The reason why Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi are of the same generation are of different generations
The reason why this happens is because their generations were determined in advance, and they were given The person who formulated the character generation was none other than their imperial grandfather, Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang had many children, including 26 sons and 16 daughters. Zhu Yuanzhang considered that the number of his descendants would be very large and it would be easy for them to have the same name, so he formulated the seniority for his descendants in advance. The characters for generational generation are all different characters, so that future generations can avoid having the same name.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had 26 sons, he only formulated the generation of descendants for his 25 sons. Zhu Yuanzhang's youngest son, Zhu Nan, died young not long after he was born, so Zhu Yuanzhang did not have time to name his descendants. Zhu Yuanzhang set 20 generation names for the descendants of his 25 sons in the form of poetry.
Take the cases of Zhu Biao and Zhu Di as an example. The 20 generation characters assigned by Zhu Yuanzhang for Zhu Biao's descendants are in order: Yunwen obeys the ancestral precepts, and Qinwu Dajun wins. It is good to follow the road, and a good teacher will make good use of it. The 20 generation characters assigned by Zhu Yuanzhang for Zhu Di's descendants are: Gao Zhan Qi Jian You, Hou Zai Yi Chang You. Ci and Yi are brothers, and Jian and Jingdi are the first.
Zhu Yuanzhang personally set the generation line, and his descendants must follow it, otherwise it will violate the ancestral precepts. Therefore, Zhu Biao's sons must be from the Yun generation, and Zhu Di's sons must be from the Gao generation. This is the reason why Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi belong to the same generation, but their seniority names are different.
The naming rules formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang for future generations are also commonly used in many families in China today, but there are differences. In many of our families today, people of the same generation basically use the same generation name. This way, you can tell at once which generation of descendants you are from the generation name, and it also enhances the unity of the family, because cousins ??use the same generation name. Being of the same generation gives people the impression that they are closer to each other, just like brothers. It is precisely for this reason that many people find it strange that Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi, two people of the same generation, have different names.
The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the rules for naming people with different generation names
So why did Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately let his descendants of the same generation use different names? After all, there is a big difference between the royal family and ordinary people's families. Zhu Yuanzhang was wise to do this for three reasons:
There is an essential difference between the royal family and ordinary people's families. This is reflected in the names of the clan members. also be reflected. It would not be surprising at all, nor would it be a big problem, if the descendants of ordinary people's families had the same name. However, descendants of the royal family are generally not allowed to have the same name, because many of the descendants of the royal family will leave their names on the historical stage. If they have the same name, it will be easy to be confused by future generations.
Ordinary people hope that their descendants will be as close as possible, but royal family members have to distinguish between superiority and inferiority. In ancient times, emperors generally had many children. Only one lineage could inherit the throne, and this lineage was more noble than others. Different names for the same generation could just reflect the difference in superiority and inferiority.
As mentioned in the previous point, only one generation can inherit the throne. If the descendants of the same generation use the same generation, then once someone in this generation ascends the throne and becomes emperor, the others will have to change their names to avoid taboos. . And if the descendants of the same generation use different names, then if one of them ascends the throne and becomes an emperor, there will be far fewer people who need to change their names to avoid naming.