What is in a Chinese name?

Ms G

I am often fascinated by the names of my local friends. Unlike the common English names, Zimbabwean names seem to carry more layers of meanings.

With a little bit of research, I am intrigued by the idea that Shona names sometimes are meant to “remind, warn, chide, expose and mark”.

Names can be a wonderful way to learn about the culture and mindset of a people.

So what is in a Chinese name?

A Chinese name is usually composed of two or three Chinese characters; in some rare cases there may also be more than three.

Different from many cultures, the Chinese put their family name before their given name.

According to government statistics, a total of 24 000 family names have been used over the nation’s 5 000-year history; but only about 6 000 remain in use today.

In most cases, a family name is only one Chinese character, such as Zhang and Wang. But there are also a small number of double-character family names, for example Ouyang, Zhuge, and Situ.

A government survey shows that Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen were among the top five most common family names in 2019 and 2020, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total population.

There are a number of origins for these family names. Some come from the names of the female leaders of the ancient matriarchal society, with the Chinese character for “woman” included as part of the character.

Examples include Yao and Ji.

Some are the names of ancient kingdoms, like Zhao, Song, Qin, and Wu. Some are ancient official or royal titles, such as Wang and Hou, literally meaning king and lord respectively.

Some are the names of places and natural landscape, such as Ximen (west gate), Chi (pond), and Liu (willow).

It is customary for a newborn to take the father’s family name. But in the recent years, more open-minded young couples are less rigid about this and the mother’s family name is also used from time to time.

Unlike Shona names that can warn and chide, Chinese given names always express a good wish.

It may be the wish for a virtue, such as Zhong (loyalty), Xin (trustworthiness), Yong (courage), Gang (toughness), and Qiang (strong); it may be for health and longevity, eg Jian (healthy), Shou (long life), Fu (good luck and happiness).

For women, it may be things and qualities that are feminine and lovely eg Yun (cloud), Yu (Jade), Juan (graceful), Qin (a type of musical instrument).

The Chinese preferred different types of names over the past millennia.

Between 45 and 23 BC, there was an emperor named Wang Mang, who outlawed names with more than three characters for the stated purpose of reviving old cultural rituals.

Although his rule only lasted 15 years, this habit stuck for hundreds of years to come.

The years 220 to 589 AD was a time when rapid change of dynasties and social instabilities made the people look for comfort in various religions.

Typical words used in Buddhism and Taoism were included in names. In the Tang and Song Dynasties when the Chinese culture, especially literature, flourished to unprecedented heights, people liked to use words from classical works in their names.

In modern times, China names are also a reflection of the general mindset during different periods of time.

Before the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, people were starving and threatened by death at any time.

Their names suggested simple wishes for more security in life. There are names like Fugui (wealth), Debao (find valuables) and Tianyou (God blessed).

In the early 1950s, many were called Jianguo (founding of a country), Guoqing (national day), Jiefang (liberation), Xinhua (New China), and Aiguo (patriotic) to mark the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

When the Chinese People’s Volunteers entered the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to fight in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953), many babies were named Yuanchao (helping North Korea) and Kangmei (fighting against the US).

When China began its development drive a few years later, especially in heavy industry, parents discovered a passion for names like Jianshe (construction), Zhenhua (invigorating China), and Guodong (pillar of the nation).

Starting from 1978 when China embarked on a massive reform and openness programme, people began to ditch three-character, politically loaded names for simple, two-character names that express simple good wishes.

This is typical of many who were born during the 1980s, myself included.

It seems to suggest a longing for a peaceful, simple life after the many years of turmoil.

When Generation Z comes along, they bring back three-character names which include very literary, poetic characters, some taken from novels and even TV dramas.

As if three characters are not enough to carry all the good wishes of new parents for their little darling, names of four characters are becoming more common to sound catchy, and make the kid stand out from the crowd.