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A Passage to China (走近中国) - Given NameThe family name is the name of a group. That group may be a family or a clan. The given name, however, is the name of the individual, a personal name. If the family name is used in order to distinguish family (a clan or a family) from another (e.g. the Li’s “李家” from the Zhang’s “张家”), the given name is to distinguish one person from another (e.g. Jianguo “建国” from Pengfei “鹏飞”). Previously it was said that the given names came before the family name. The family name came into existence because, as society developed, there were more and more groups or clans and there came the need over time to distinguish one group or clan from another. Before there was the need for such distinction, however, the individual group or clan had already been formed. Within the individual group or clan, there had been the need to tell the individual person from each other before there was the need to tell one clan from another. That is the reason why it should be stated that the given name came before the family name. In one of the Chinese classical books, Explaining the Chinese Characters(《说文解字》), it is said that the Chinese character ming(名) consists if two elemental parts. One part is “xi” (夕) and the other is “kou” (口). “xi” means night and “kou” mouth. The formation of the Chinese character ming (名) offers a glimpse of the life our forefathers had before. In the beginning, people could tell each other by sight or by appearance. But when night fell and covered the earth, they could not see each other clearly and so they had to make themselves known or recognized by themselves, or rather by giving their individual name. That individual name is what we call first or given name today. According to research in the field of names, the earliest individual names are possibly the names of leaders of the clan or the heroes who fought bravely in fights against other clans. What Does the Given Name Do? The Chinese nation is one which lays stress on what one does to the family he or she is in, on the obligation one bears to society, and on the following obligation. As such the personal given name carries not only the function of the designation, but also the hope or wish the name-giver has for the name-bearer. In terms of designation, the Chinese given name is the dame as he given name of other cultures –Wang Jianguo(建国) is easily distinguished from Wang Yaozong(王耀宗) though both of them share the same family name, just as John Smith is easily distinguished from Baron Smith. But if we look deep into the given name, we find that both Jiangguo and Yaozong have meanings. If we examine the two names, Zhang Gong(张弓) and Zhang Chang (张长)，we have the family name of Zhang(张). In other words, we say that each of the given names is part of the family name. Isn’t the child part of the parent? So it may well be said that the Chinese given names is much more than a name. People have always showed particular concern for the meaning, appearance and sound when they name children. It is expected that a name given by the father or grandfather carries their wish, hope, pursuit, aspiration, generation, etc. This name must be rich in the name-giver’s wish or intention and it should also be pleasant in form and sound. People often find the following cases in classical given names:
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