A Passage to China (走近中国) - Ways of Naming or Naming Patterns

The typical pattern of Chinese names is family name + given names and there are two characters in the given name. Of the two characters of the given name, one is what we call the generation name and the other is the personal given name in the real sense. We say it is the real personal given name because, of the three characters in a Chinese name, the family name belongs to the family, the generation name refers to the generation, and only the last one belongs to the bearer, the person. In other words, the family name is familial, all members of the family sharing it; the generation name is generational, all the members (the male at least) of the same generation sharing it; and the last is personal, with the ownership that belongs to the bearer only.

The generation name is part of given name that marks the position of the bearer in the family hierarchy. In a typical Chinese name the position of the generation name is usually in the middle of the three components (characters), family name + generation name + given name. Some people like to have the generation name at the end, family name + given name + generation name. The generation name in China is very unusual in the naming culture of the world and so it deserves our consideration.

When a male child is born, the father will take a character as the generation name from the chain of generation names already selected and regulated by his forefathers and then choose another character and give it to the baby as the given name. take the name Mao Zedong (毛泽东) for example. Mao (毛) is the family name and Ze (泽) the generation name. His real personal name is Dong (东). The name of Mao Zedong’s grandfather is Mao Enpu (毛恩普) and the father’s name is Mao Yichang (毛贻昌). The generation names of the three generations are respectively 恩(En), 贻 (Yi) and 泽(Ze), belonging to the 12th, 13th and 14th generations of the Mao clan in Shaoshan, Hunan Province (Mao Zedong’s hometown). According to the genealogy of the clan of the Maos at Shaoshan, the chain of generation names of Mao Zedong’s family is a poem with five characters to a line. The generations name Ze(泽) in the name of Mao Zedong (毛泽东) stands as the fourteenth character of the poem, namely the fourteenth generation since the chain of generation names was begun in 1737. Even though Mao Zedong had several names like 润芝 (Runzhi), 咏芝 (Yongzhi), 子任(Ziren), 毛山石(Mao Shanshi), 李德胜(Li Desheng), names he used for different reasons or for different periods of time, the name with the generation name Zedong(泽东) never changed and he used it all his life.

Generation names began to qppear toward the end of the Han Dynasty. Liu Biao(刘表), a historical figure at the end of the Han Dynasty, had two sons, ones named Liu Qi(刘琦) and the other Liu Cong (刘琮). In the given name of the two sons, there is the same Chinese character component 王 (meaning king). In the period of the Three Kingdoms, the from of the generation name because more obvious. The famous marshal Sima Zhongda (司马仲达), Sima Shuda (司马叔达), Sima Jida (司马季达), Sima Xianda (司马显达), Sima Huida (司马惠达), Sima Yada (司马雅达), and Sima Youda (司马幼达). The eight names all share the Chinese character da(达, meaning eminence; understanding; extension) as the generation name and obviously the eight brothers were of the same generation.

With time, during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the generation name began to enter the naming system and became very popular, especially in the royal families and upper class families. For example, Emperor Song Wudi had seven sons, whose given names were Yifu (义符), Yilong (义隆), Yizhen (义真), Yikang (义康), Yigong (义恭), Yixuan (义宣) and Yiji (义季). Here, the generation name is Yi (义, meaning justice; righteousness) and in this family or clan, those whose generation name is Yi, including the sons of Emperor Song Wudi’s brothers’, obviously belong to the same generation.

The chief characteristics of the generation name of this period are not only its increasing popularity, but also the fact that the father or an elder in the family determined the generation name when the child was born. That marks the entrance of generation names into the naming system.

The generation name reached its maturity in the period of the Song Dynasty. This maturity is shown by the fact that generation name was not determined by only a meeting and discussing of the father and elder members of the family when the child was born. Instead, a sequence or a chain of Chinese characters had already been chosen and fixed by the elder generation as the source of generation names. When a child was born, the father would go to the chain of generation names and pick the one following his own for the baby’s generation name. When his son’s child was born, the Chinese character after the previous one in the sequence would be given as the generation name to that child. For example, the sequence of generation names for the children of Emperor Song Taizu (927 –976) are De (德), Wei (惟), Cong (从), Shi (世), Ling (令), Zi (子), Bo(伯), Shi (师), Xi (希), Yu (与), Meng (孟) and Yi (宜). His sons must show De (德) as the generation name in their full name and his grandchildren must have Wei (惟) as theirs in the full name as this Wei is the character right after the emperor’s son’s generation name. If a person of a family of the family or clan that has the same family name, he will know his relation with that person in terms of generation. When a sequence or a chain of generation names circulates to the end, the elder generation will meet and discuss its recycling or a new compilation.

An important aesthetic aspect that should be mentioned is that between the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, people began to use a poem for generation names. In other words, we put together all the Chinese characters in the chain of generation names rather than separate and unrelated characters lacking the aesthetic aspect, and we will find a poem that those characters from. The poem usually contains praise for ancestors or hope for the continuation and prosperity in the future for the family or clan. This is the aesthetic beauty the generation name makes. This beauty is an important mark of maturity for the generation name.

The generation names of Mao Zedong’s family are an interesting example. The chain of generation names of Mao’s family was selected in 1737 and if the generation names are put together, a poem then appears: five characters to a line (given below in the left column in Chinese characters with Pinyin in the right, the Romanization system for written Chinese based on the pronunciation of the Mandarin Chinese for easier reading):

立显荣朝士，Lì Xǐao róng cháo shì,
文方运际祥。Wén fàng yùn jìxiǎng.
祖恩贻泽远，Zǔ ēn yì zé yuǎn,
世代永承昌。Shì dài yǒng chéng chāng.
In 1881, four more lines were added:
孝友传家本，Xìao yǒu chuán jiā běn,
忠良振国光。Zhōng liáng zhèn guó guāng.
起元敦圣学，Qi yuan dun sheng xue,
风雅列明章。Fēng yǎ liè míng zhāng.

The meaning of this eight-line poem goes roughly like this:
Celebrity and eminence glory government officials,
And knowledge and education extend the good luck of the state.
There is no end to the bounties of ancestral kindness,
On which prosperity keeps for following generations.
Filial piety and benevolence preserve the family,
And faithfulness and loyalty invigorate the nations.
Encouragement be given in the beginning for imperial honor,
And noble elegance and refinement exalt every generation.

Since the generation name is to mark the position of the bearer inside the family and the males continue the family name, there are families where the females do not have the generation name or have a different one from the males’. For females there are roughly three alternatives possible: (1) having no generation name at all, (2) having the same generation name as their brothers, (3) having a generation name different from that of their brothers but shared with their sisters. For the males, however, most of them have the generation name.

It must be pointed out that during the “Cultural Revolution” (1966-1976), the generation name dropped dramatically. Perhaps another reason that the generation name declined is the birth control policy practiced in China.

Old and traditional as the type of the generation name is in China, it is unique and cultural as a name type in the name practice of the world. Even though the generation name originated in the soil of the feudal, patriarchal social system, it changes in meaning with the advance of society and constantly adapts itself to catering to social needs and thus it exhibits new vigor. It constantly reminds people of the idea of family and home and what the forefathers have undergone in the past. It is part of Chinese culture and heritage.

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