A
Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a
courtesy name (
zì), is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the
zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect. Primarily used for male names, one could be given a
zì by the parents, or by their first personal teacher on the first day of family school, or one may adopt a self-chosen
zì. The tradition of using style names has been fading since the
May Fourth MovementThe May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
in 1919. There are two common forms of style name, the
zì and the
hào.
Zì (adult name)
The
zì, sometimes called the
biǎozì or "courtesy name", is a name traditionally given to Chinese males at the age of 20, marking their coming of age. It was sometimes given to females upon marriage. As noted above, the practice is no longer common in modern Chinese society. According to the
Book of Rites , after a man reaches adulthood, it is disrespectful for others of the same generation to address him by his given name, or
míng. Thus, the given name was reserved for oneself and one's elders, while the
zì would be used by adults of the same generation to refer to one another on formal occasions or in writing; hence the term 'courtesy name'.
The
zì is mostly disyllabic (comprises two
charactersChinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
) and is usually based on the meaning of the
míng or
given nameChinese given names are generally made up of one or two characters, and are written after the family name, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be read "Smith John-Paul". Chinese names can consist of any character and contain almost any meaning...
.
Yan ZhituiYan Zhitui was a Chinese scholar, calligrapher, painter, musician, and government official who served four different Chinese states during the late Southern and Northern Dynasties: the Liang Dynasty in southern China, the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Dynasties of northern China, and their...
(顏之推) of the Northern Qi Dynasty believed that while the purpose of the
míng was to distinguish one person from another, the
zì should express the bearer's moral integrity.
The relation which often exists between a person's
zì and his
míng can be seen in the case of
Mao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, whose
zì was Rùnzhī . These two characters share the same
radicalA Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
- 氵, which signifies water. Both characters can mean "to benefit" or "to nourish".
Another way to form a
zì is to use the homophonic character
zǐ - a respectful title for a male - as the first character of the disyllabic
zì. Thus, for example, Gongsun Qiao's
zì was: Zǐchǎn , and
Du FuDu Fu was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.Along with Li Bai , he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations...
's: Zǐméi (子美).
It is also common to construct a
zì by using as the first character one which expresses the bearer's birth order among male siblings in his family. Thus
ConfuciusConfucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
, whose actual name was Kǒng Qiū (孔丘), was given the
zì Zhòngní (仲尼), where the first character
zhòng indicates that he was the second son in his family. The characters commonly used are bó (伯) for the first, zhòng (仲) for the second, shū (叔) for the third, and jì (季) typically for the youngest, if the family consists of more than three sons.
The use of
zì began during the
Shang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
and slowly developed into a system, which became most widespread during the succeeding
Zhou DynastyThe Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
. During this period, women were also given
zì. The
zì given to a woman was generally composed of a character indicating her birth order among females siblings and her surname. For example, Mèng Jiāng (孟姜) was the eldest daughter in the Jiāng family.
Prior to the 20th century, sinicized
KoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
ns,
VietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese, and
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese were also referred to by their
zì.
The
zì of some famous people:
| | Family name | Given name | Zì |
LaoziLaozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
老子 |
Lǐ (李) |
Ěr (耳) |
Bó Yáng (伯陽) |
ConfuciusConfucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
孔子 |
Kong (孔) |
Qiu (丘) |
Zhòngní (仲尼) |
Cao CaoCao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...
曹操 |
Cao (曹) |
Cao (操) |
Mengde (孟德) |
| Liu Bei Liu Bei , also known as Liu Xuande, was a warlord, military general and later the founding emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history...
劉備 |
Liu (劉) |
Bei (備) |
Xuande (玄德) |
Sima YiSima Yi was a general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. He is perhaps best known for defending Wei from Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions...
司馬懿 |
Sima (司馬) |
Yi (懿) |
Zhòngdá (仲達) |
Zhuge LiangZhuge Liang was a chancellor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era....
諸葛亮 |
Zhuge (諸葛) |
Liang (亮) |
Kongming (孔明) |
Li BaiLi Bai , also known in the West by various other transliterations, especially Li Po, was a major Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty poetry period. He has been regarded as one of the greatest poets in China's Tang period, which is often called China's "golden age" of poetry. Around a thousand existing...
李白 |
Li (李) |
Bai (白) |
Taibai (太白) |
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
孫逸仙 |
Sun (孫) |
Deming (德明) |
Zaizhi (載之) |
Mao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
毛澤東 |
Mao (毛) |
Zedong (澤東) |
Runzhi (潤之) |
Yue FeiYue Fei , style name Pengju, was a military general of the Southern Song Dynasty. His ancestral home was in Xiaoti, Yonghe Village, Tangyin, Xiangzhou, Henan...
岳飛 |
Yue (岳) |
Fei (飛) |
Pengju (鵬舉) |
Bai ChongxiBai Chongxi , , also spelled Pai Chung-hsi, was a Chinese general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and a prominent Chinese Nationalist Muslim leader. He was of Hui ethnicity and of the Muslim faith...
白崇禧 |
Bai (白) |
Chongxi (崇禧) |
Jiansheng (健生) |
| Ma Fuxiang Ma Fuxiang . Ma, a Dongxiang muslim leader, had a military and political career which spanned the Qing dynasty through the early Republic of China and illustrated the power of family, the role of religious affiliations, and the interaction of Inner Asian China and the national government of...
馬福祥 |
Ma (馬) |
Fuxiang (福祥) |
Yunting (雲亭) |
| Ma Hongkui Ma Hongkui , was a prominent warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Ningxia. His rank was Lieutenant-general. His courtesy name was Shao-yun .- Life :...
馬鴻逵 |
Ma (馬) |
Hongkui (鴻逵) |
Shao-yun (少雲) |
| Yusuf Ma Dexin Yusuf Ma Dexin was a Hui Chinese scholar of Islam from Yunnan, known for his fluency and proficiency in both Arabic and Persian, and for his knowledge of Islam.- Hajj :...
馬德新 |
Ma (馬) |
Dexin (德新) |
Fuchu (復初) |
| Muhammad Ma Jian Muhammad Ma Jian was a Chinese Islamic scholar and translator.Born in Shadian village, Gejiu, Yunnan, Ma Jian went to Shanghai to pursue his studies in 1928. In 1931, he left China for Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt as a member of the first group of government-sponsored Chinese students to...
馬堅 |
Ma (馬) |
Jian (堅) |
Zishi (子實) |
Hào (pseudonym)
Hào is an alternative courtesy name, usually referred to as the
pseudonym. It was most commonly three or four characters long, and may have originally become popular due to people having the same
zì. A
hào was usually self-selected and it was possible to have more than one. It had no connection with the bearer's
míng or
zì; rather it was often a very personal, sometimes whimsical, choice perhaps embodying an allusion or containing a rare character, as might befit an educated literatus. Another possibility was to use the name of one's residence as one's
hào; thus
Su ShiSu Shi , was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman of the Song Dynasty, and one of the major poets of the Song era. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi , and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo...
's
hào Dongpo Jushi (i.e., "Resident of Dongpo" ("Eastern slope"), a residence he built while an exile in
HainanHainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
). An author's
hào was also often used in the title of his collected works (also called
Bi Ming literally pen name).
See also:
Art-name (gō) in JapanAn art-name is a pseudonym, or penname, used by an East Asian artist, which they sometimes change. The word and the idea to use a pseudonym originated from China, then became popular in other East Asian countries ....
.