Name. Chinese characters. Standardized

Author: Zhang Shuyan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: represents the character being vertically structured, with "" on top and "" below. 2 represents the character "," with a "" in the middle.
(1) Avoiding names: If a surname is the same as the name or character of the reigning monarch, it is often changed. For example, Xiang Yu's name was Ji, so his surname was changed to Xi; Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty's name was Shi, so his surname was changed to Sheng; Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty's name was Zhuang, so his surname was changed to Yan; Emperor Jing of the Jin Dynasty's name was Shi (Sima Shi), so his surname was changed to Shuai and Lü; After the death of Crown Prince Li Hong of the Tang Dynasty, he was posthumously titled Emperor Xiaojing, so his surname Hong was changed to Hong; During the Later Jin Dynasty, to avoid the taboo of Emperor Shijie, the character "" in his surname was split into Gou and Wen; During the Song Dynasty, to avoid the taboo of Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, his surname Kuang was changed to Qiang and Zhu (Zhu was later changed to Kang during the Zhenghe era due to being considered disrespectful); Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty's name was Heng, so his surname was changed to Chang.
(2) Avoiding homophones: Not only must the name of the reigning monarch be avoided, but homophones of the name must also be avoided, which is the most stringent aspect of taboo avoidance. For example, Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty's name was Chun, so the compound surname Chunyu, which also contains "Chun," was changed to the single surname Yu; During the Five Dynasties period, Wang Shenzhi became a king in Min, and the people with the surname Shen in Min changed their surname to You to avoid the homophone "Shen." ① During the Jiaolong era of Emperor Gaozu of the Southern Song Dynasty, a person with the surname Yin was reported to the county government because his surname Yin was similar in sound to "Yin" in Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin's name. As a result, the county magistrate changed his surname to the visually similar "Dian." During the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong's name was Gou, so the surnames Gou, Gou, Gou, Ju, and the compound surname Goulong were changed to Hou, Yao, Gou, and Ju, respectively. Another example is Jin Lixiang's ancestors, who originally had the surname Liu, but during the Five Dynasties period, they changed their surname to Jin because "Liu" was homophonic with the name of the King of Wu-Yue, Qian Liu. ②
(3) Changing surnames due to political reasons, personal grievances, or avoiding taboos: Changing surnames due to political reasons, personal grievances, or avoiding taboos refers to being forced to change one's surname due to political factors, personal conflicts, or avoiding certain taboos. There are three specific situations:
(1) Changing surnames to avoid hardship: This occurs due to national or family hardships. After the unification of China by Qin, descendants of the former nobles of the six states sometimes changed their surnames to avoid persecution. For example, descendants of Tian Guang of Yan changed their surname to Guang, and descendants of Xun of Jin changed their surname to Gou. During the reign of Wang Mang, descendants of the Han royal family suffered persecution and changed their surnames to avoid hardship. For example, Meng Da, the great-grandson of Su Guang (the variant form of Su), removed the "" side of the character "Su" and changed his surname to Shu; The Bao family of Tai Shan removed the "" side of the character "Bao" and changed their surname to Bao. Another example is during the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Chengyang Jiao Heng was executed. He had four sons: one who stayed to guard his father's tomb and kept the surname Jiao; another who moved to Xuzhou and changed his surname to Tuan; another who moved to Youzhou and changed his surname to Gui; and another who moved to Huayang and changed his surname to Jian.
(2) Changing surnames to avoid enemies: This occurs when one changes their surname to avoid enemies. For example, descendants of Zuanmu Ci (also known as Zigong, with the compound surname Zuanmu) changed their surname to Mu to avoid enemies; In the Wu surname, some people changed their surname to Wu to avoid enemies; Descendants of the compound surname Sheng Tu changed their surname to Sheng to avoid enemies; During the Tang Dynasty, there were many people with the surname Di in Chengcheng County, Tongzhou, who claimed their ancestors had the surname Tongqian and changed their surname to Di or Ti to avoid enemies.
(3) Changing surnames to avoid taboos: This occurs when one changes their surname to avoid certain taboos. For example, during the Tang Dynasty, Weilun, the Minister of Censorship, sent Gou Zeng as a judge with him on a mission to Tubo. On the way, they heard that Tubo people tabooed dogs, so they quickly reported to the emperor, who ordered Gou Zeng's surname Gou to be changed to Xun. Another example is during the Ming Dynasty, the Liu family in Tongzhou (now Dayi County, Shaanxi) changed their surname to Dan to avoid shame due to sharing the same surname as the eunuch Liu Jin.
(4) Changing surnames due to special events: Special events can also lead to changes in surnames. For example, Tian Qianqiu, the Prime Minister during Emperor Wu of Han, was allowed to travel in a carriage in the palace due to his old age. People called him "Carriage Prime Minister," and his descendants changed their surname to Tian. During the Three Kingdoms period, someone in Beihai County with the surname Shi was mocked by Kong Rong, who said, "Your surname '' is like the character '' without the top half. You should change your surname to '.'" As a result, Shi Yi changed his surname to Shi. Fu Hong, the founder of the former Qin, originally had the surname Pu. In the sixth year of the Yonghe era of Emperor Mu of Eastern Jin, Mu appointed Pu Hong as the Grand General of the Northern Defense. To achieve the goal of becoming a king, Pu Hong claimed that an oracle text said that people with the character "" on their bodies should become kings, and his grandson Jian had exactly that character on his back. Therefore, he changed his surname from Pu to Fu ("" is the same as ""). ①
(5) Changing to another's surname: Changing to another's surname refers to changing one's surname for certain purposes (Zhaoliang Zhao summarized this as following the family law, attaching to prestigious clans, and climbing to power). This practice began in the early Han Dynasty and became particularly popular during the Wei and Jin periods. There were cases of changing to a mother's surname, such as Lü Ping, the son of Empress Lü's sister, who did not originally have the surname Lü but changed to it when Empress Lü enfeoffed the Lü family, allowing him to be enfeoffed as a marquis. There were also cases of changing to the surname of a master, such as Zhang Meng, the father of Guan Fu, who was a retainer of Guan Ying (Chancellor during Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty) and was favored by Guan Ying. He was recommended for the position of a second-rank official and changed his surname to Guan. There were also more complex cases, such as during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, the Duke of Zhou granted Tang Jin the surname Yuwen, and Yu Jin followed him and changed his surname to Yu. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Chancellor Linghu Xuan, to consolidate his power and status, actively brought in relatives, leading many ethnic surnames to change to Linghu. Another example is An Lushan, who originally had the surname Kang but changed his surname to An after marrying his mother to the general An Yanyan.
(6) Changing to ethnic surnames: Changing to ethnic surnames here differs from changing surnames in bestowing surnames; it is active rather than passive. Changing to ethnic surnames includes two aspects: ethnic surnames changing to Han surnames, and Han surnames changing to ethnic surnames.
(1) Ethnic surnames changing to Han surnames: This is the mainstream of changing to ethnic surnames in history (including during periods when non-Han ethnic groups ruled). For example, the Northern Wei was a regime established by the Xianbei people, and the imperial family of the Northern Wei paid great attention to learning from the advanced culture of the Han ethnic group, and many of their surnames were changed to Han single surnames. According to the "Official and Clan Records" in the "Book of Wei," there were 117 cases of Xianbei compound surnames being changed to Han single surnames, such as Qiumuling being changed to Mu, Bulugu being changed to Lu, Hela being changed to He, and Duluo being changed to Liu. The Liao and Jin were countries established by the Khitan and Jurchen peoples, respectively, and many people changed their surnames to Han during this period. For example, Xiao Han, a relative of the Liao regime, was appointed as the Military Commissioner of Bianzhou by Liao Taizong. He was given a Han name and surname Xiao, and after that, the three clans of relatives of the Liao regime—Bali, Shulu, and Ishuji—were all changed to the surname Xiao. Moreover, the surname Xiao and the imperial surname of the Liao regime, Yelü, became the most prestigious surnames in Liao. Although the Qing Dynasty used Manchu compound surnames such as Aisin Gioro and Yehe Nala for a long time, they gradually changed to Han single surnames later, such as Aisin Gioro being changed to Jin, Yi, Hong, and De, and Niuhulu being changed to Lang, Bu, and Niu.
(2) Han surnames changing to ethnic surnames: It is not common for Han people to actively change to ethnic surnames, usually occurring in areas with multiple ethnic groups. For example, the ancestors of Liang Yu of the Northern Zhou were originally Han, but because they were stationed on the northern border, they changed their surname to the Xianbei clan name Heduoling. After the Xianbei were assimilated into the Han, they returned to Han surnames. Qi Lianmeng of the Northern Qi had Han ancestors, but because they fled to the border and settled in Qilian Mountains, they took the mountain name Qilian as their surname, which was later misspelled as Qilian. Later, they became a surname of the Xianbei clan.
(7) Simplifying surnames: In the development of surnames, there is a trend toward simplification, which is manifested in two aspects:
(1) Compound surnames changing to single surnames: Comparing the "Customs of Surnames" from the Eastern Han Dynasty and the "Hundred Surnames" from the Northern Song Dynasty, the former had one-third of compound surnames, while the latter had only one-tenth. This shows that compound surnames were gradually simplifying to single surnames. There are many examples of compound surnames changing to single surnames in ancient texts, such as the descendants of Fu Fu Zhongsheng (compound surname Fu Fu) changing their surname to Fu, the descendants of Ximen Bao (compound surname Ximen) changing their surname to Xi, and Duan Fuchu, who originally had the compound surname Duanmu and later changed it to Duan. Others, such as the Murong clan, changed to the single surname Mu, the Zhongli clan changed to the single surname Zhong, and clans like Beimen, Beigong, Beiguo, Beiren, and Beinye all had people change their surnames to Bei. Clans like Sima, Simkong, Simu, and Simou all had people change their surnames to Si. The trend of compound surnames changing to single surnames is even more evident today. The National Language Commission and the Institute of Genetics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted three sampling statistics on the data from the third national population census, with a total of 1.3 million people. They found 1,436 surnames, of which only 21 were compound surnames, accounting for only 1.46%. Some data from the census also showed that some compound surnames were in the process of changing, such as in Shanxi and Guizhou, there were people with the surname (a combination of Linghu), and in Hunan and Jiangxi, there were people with the surname Yang (a combination of Ouyang). The pronunciation remained the same, but the writing form was unified. This is a noteworthy phenomenon.
(2) Removing radicals from surnames: Some surnames originated from state names, and many of these characters had "β" (a deformation of ""). Later, people removed the "β" radical to change to simpler writing forms. For example, Zhang, Bing, Zeng, Zhu, and Cheng were changed from Zhang, Bian, Zheng, Zhu, and Cheng, respectively. There were also cases of removing other radicals, such as Dan being changed to Ran, Tan being changed to Tan, Su (2) being changed to Sui, and Lu being changed to Lu.