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 adopt a self chosen zì later. The tradition of using style names has been fading away since the May Fourth Movement. The May Fourth Movement ( was an anti- imperialist, cultural and political movement in early modern China. There are two common forms of style name, the zì and the hào.
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Zì (adult name)
| Chinese style name | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese: | (表)字 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | (表)字 | ||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kanji: | 字 | ||||||||
| Hiragana: | あざな | ||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul: | 자 | ||||||||
| Hanja: | 字 | ||||||||
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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. Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language Romanization system in South Korea. McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language Romanization systems along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which 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 (Traditional Chinese: 禮記; Simplified Chinese: 礼记), after a man reaches adulthood, it is disrespectful for others of the same generation to address him by his given name, or míng. The Classic of Rites ( was one of the Five Classics of the Confucian canon 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, i. e. , comprises two characters, and is usually based on the meaning of the míng or given name. A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( Chinese given names ( Chinese: 名字 Pinyin: míngzì are often made up of one or two characters Unlike Western personal names there is great variety Yan Zhitui (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. Yan Zhitui ( 531–591 was a Chinese scholar calligrapher, painter, musician and government official who served four different Chinese states during The Northern Qi Dynasty (Chinese 北齊 Běiqí was one of the Northern dynasties of Chinese history and ruled northern China from 550 to 577.
The relation which often exists between a person's zì and his míng can be seen in the case of Mao Zedong (Traditional Chinese: 毛澤東; Simplified Chinese: 毛泽东), whose zì was Rùnzhī ((Traditional Chinese: 潤之; Simplified Chinese: 润之). Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led These two characters share the same radical - 氵, which signifies water. This disambiguation page differentiates the various historical uses of the term radical in the context of Chinese characters Both characters can mean 'to benefit' or 'to nourish'.
Another way to form a zì is to use the homophonic character zǐ (Chinese: 子; pinyin: zǐ) - a respectful title for a male - as the first character of the disyllabic zì. Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Thus, for example, Gongsun Qiao's zì was: Zǐchǎn ((Traditional Chinese: 子產; Simplified Chinese: 子产), and Du Fu's: Zǐméi (子美). Du Fu ( 712–770 was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.
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 Confucius, 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. Confucius ( lit " Master Kung " September 28, 551 BC - 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher 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 sometime during the Shang Dynasty and slowly developed into a system, which became most widespread during the succeeding Zhou Dynasty . The Shang Dynasty ( Chinese: 商[[wiktionary 朝|朝]] or Yin Dynasty ( 殷[[wiktionary 代|代]] was according to traditional sources the The Zhou Dynasty ( POJ: Chiu Tiau 1122 BC to 256 BC was preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty in China. 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 Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese were also referred to by their zì. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Sinicization, Sinicisation or Sinification, (in Mandarin: 中国化 Zhōngguóhuà) is the linguistic assimilation or Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.
The zì of some famous people:
| Family name | Given name | Zì | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laozi | Lǐ | Ěr | Bó Yáng |
| Confucius | Kong | Qiu | Zhòngní |
| Sima Yi | Sima | Yi | Zhòngdá |
| Zhuge Liang | Zhuge | Liang | Kongming |
| Li Bai | Li | Bai | Taibai |
| Sun Yat-sen | Sun | Deming | Zaizhi |
| Mao Zedong | Mao | Zedong | Runzhi |
| Yue Fei | Yue | Fei | Pengju |
Hào (pseudonym)
| Chinese style name | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese: | 號 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 号 | ||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kana: | ごう (modern usage) がう (historical usage) |
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| Kyūjitai: | 號 | ||||||||
| Shinjitai: | 号 | ||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul: | 호 | ||||||||
| Hanja: | 號 | ||||||||
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Hào (traditional Chinese: 號; simplified Chinese: 号; pinyin: hào; Japanese gō; Korean: ho; Vietnamese: hiệu) is an alternative courtesy name, usually referred to as the pseudonym. Laozi ( also Lao Tse, Lao-Tzu, Laotze, Lao Zi, Laocius, and other variations was a philosopher of ancient Confucius ( lit " Master Kung " September 28, 551 BC - 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher Sima Yi (179 - 251 was a strategist general and politician of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms era of China. Zhuge Liang (181–234 was Chancellor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China Sun Yat-sen ( November 12, 1866 &ndash March 12, 1925) was a Chinese Revolutionary and political leader often Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led Yue Fei’s biographies Yue Fei Biography A biography of Yue Fei was written 60 years after his death by his grandson the poet and historian Yue Ke (岳柯 Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system The refers to a Kanazukai (system of spelling the Japanese syllabary) that is antiquated because it is no longer in accord with the Japanese pronunciation Kyūjitai (in Shinjitai: ja 旧字体 in Kyūjitai 舊字體 meaning "old character form" is the traditional form of the Japanese Kanji used before Shinjitai (in Shinjitai ja [[wikt新字体 新字体]] in Kyūjitai: ja [[wikt新字體 新字體]] meaning "new character form" are the forms of The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language Romanization system in South Korea. McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language Romanization systems along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use 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 Shi's hào Dongpo Jushi (i. Su Shi ( 1037–1101 was a writer, poet, Artist, calligrapher, Pharmacologist, and Statesman of the Song Dynasty e. , 'Resident of Dongpo' ('Eastern slope'), a residence he built while in exile). An author's hào was also often used in the title of his collected works.
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See also
Personal Names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures.Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic