I was a big fan of the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history thanks to all the media content that came out of the Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms including an epic TV adaptation, various comics on the series or major characters from the novel and a bunch of Koei and other PC, console and even arcade games based on or in that setting.
One of the odd things I picked up as part of my decades long exposure to the Three Kingdoms period was that all the important characters had multiple names. Cao Cao, a major protagonist for the first part of the book was family name Cao (姓曹), name Cao(名操) and had another name Meng De (字孟德). Zhuge Liang, the main character and hero1 had four names: family name Zhuge (姓Zhuge), named Liang (名亮), another name Kong Ming (字孔明) and had an honorific or nickname Sleeping Dragon (号卧龙).
This can be a little confusing as modern-day Chinese names are straightforward: the full name or Mingzi 名字 is made up of two parts: (1) the family or clan name and (2) the given name. For example, the full names of the present and past Presidents of China are: Xi Jinping 习近平, Mao Zedong 毛泽东.
Why did they have so many names? What were their significance? I never really bothered to find out. I vaguely had a sense that of the two names, there was some formal rules about when which name was used. As for the nickname, I knew enough about Chinese culture and values to know that the “Sleeping Dragon” honorific was not self-given (that would be immodest and arrogant - very, very bad). Some of my friends and I did have a lot of fun calling each other using the “special” names of important characters2.
Recently, this became something I really had to investigate. Partly because of my last article on Qu Yuan, partly because of my various readings on Chinese history and poetry. It was necessary because the classical Chinese literati and writers assumed everyone was literate and well-educated3 enough to know everyone’s names (including their pseudonyms and nicknames) and would understand the allusions and references in the writings.
Well, here’s the result of my research. I’ll start with the modern Chinese names and then go on to explain the complicated ones.
The Modern Family or Clan Name, xingshi 姓氏
The first one or two characters in a modern Chinese name is/are the Family or Clan name or Xingshi 姓氏 (often just xing 姓) and is the equivalent of Last Name / Surname in the "West". However, In Chinese and other East Asian cultures this is placed at the start of their names4. Using the earlier example: Xi (习) is the family name in Xi Jinping as is Mao (毛) in Mao Zedong.
Family names can be single character (单姓) as in the example above or multiple character family name (复姓). A modern example of a multiple character family name is the actor Sima Liu (of Crazy Rich Asians and Shang Chi fame): his family name is Sima (司马). In modern times, most family names are single character names.
Given Name, ming 名
The second half (or two-thirds) of Chinese names is the given name and it is the equivalent to First Name in the West. Again, the order is inverted for Chinese and other East Asian cultures. Using the earlier examples: Jinping (近平) in Xi Jinping and Zedong (泽东) in Mao Zedong are the respective given names. Like the family name, the given name can be a single character or multiple (usually double) characters. China's top two diplomats have single character given names: Wang Yi 王毅 (family name "王", given name "毅") and Qin Gang 秦刚 (family name "秦", given name "刚").
Ancient Times - Let’s Get Complicated
This only applies to modern times. As mentioned at the start, it used to be a lot more complicated. xing 姓and shi used to be different concepts in ancient China (pre-Warring States Period or ~221BC) . Similarly, minzi 名字did not refer to the full name and min 名and zi 字 were two different concepts with different usages up to as least half of the 20th century. And did I mention the pseudonyms/art names known as hao 号? So here we go, a quick dive into the many names of the Chinese: xing 姓、shi 氏、ming 名、zi 字、hao 号.
The Xing 姓 or Family Name / Lineage Name
In ancient times, the Xing 姓 signified the matrilineal line. Ancient China was a matrilineal society - it was easy to determine the mother of child, not so much for the father. The Chinese character for xing "姓" is made up of the characters for woman "女" and born / birth "生": "born of this woman". You see this also in many of the ancient surnames. For example, the "Eight Ancient Surnames" of Ji, Jiang, Si, Ying, Yun, Gui, Yao, Ji“ “姬、姜、姒、嬴、妘、妫、姚、姞”, all have the character for woman "女" built in. The family name was important as intermarriage between those with the same family name was prohibited.
The Shi 氏Clan or Branch Name and its merger into the Xingshi 姓氏
This part is a little complicated. The Shi 氏Clan or Branch Names arose after the xing 姓 due to a few reasons.
(1) As the population grew and the area under a village or tribe expanded, a problem arose. If everyone had the same Family Name and given the limited Given Names available, there were bound to be many people with the same Full Names. In addition, if everyone had the same Family Name, how would one distinguish the ruling elite from the commoner when they all have the same "Family name"? Thus, Clan names came into being for practical reasons (to distinguish John Smith 1 from John Smith 2) and importantly, to differentiate the elite or ruling class from the rest (to distinguish John Maynard Smith from John Smith).
(2) As populations grew, the excess population also left and moved afar to set up new tribes and villages - new branches of the original tribe. Thus, a different "surname" was needed to differentiate those with the same family name in the home village or tribe from the "branch" in new and distant village.
(3) It’s speculated that around the same time, Chinese society moved gradually from a matrilineal society to a patriarchy. Assets, titles, and official posts were held by males, some of these were capable of being passed down to their male descendants. Thus, a different category "name" was required to mark patrilineal status and/or descent and succession.
It’s noteworthy that it was the xing that determined lineage or blood and what marriage restrictions were based on – Marriage between people with the shi was permitted and probably even encouraged as the elite/nobility are likely to want intermarriage to occur within the same social class and not "marry down". This is also because the shi was initially not something that was passed on to later generations or could only be passed on to a limited number of generations (e.g. 3 generations can carry over the same shi) and attendant benefits/rights.
Over time and by the Spring-Autumn period, most of the nobility no longer used the xing but only the shi which grew in significance. The xing grew increasingly meaningless as almost all nobles could trace back a similar descent and thus have the same xing. Furthermore, with the shift to a patrilineal and patriarchal society, the shi increasingly became more and more important and relevant for succession purposes and as a status symbol.
By the time of the end of the Warring States Period, almost people with shi would primarily only used the shi and not the xing. So in my last article, you'd see that Qu Yuan (屈原) who lived in the final years of the Warring States Period is referred to as Qu Yuan even though his xing is Mi (芈).
Eventually, even the commoners or lower in social status started to adopt the shi. With the unification of China first by the Qin dynasty and shortly thereafter again, by the Han dynasty, many of the previous nobility in the Warring States period were either eliminated or cast down to commoner status (the wages of defeat!) and thus unable or prohibited from using their xing姓. Thus by the time of the Qin and Han dynasty, the xing and shi were merged into one concept – the modern day concept of xingshi姓氏.
The ming名and zi字
The ming and zi were both given names but with different usages and connotations. The ming is the name given to a person by the family, typically the father or grandfather. As it was granted by the father/grandfather, this is a name that a person takes for life and it cannot be changed as one would otherwise be unfilial. For adults, only persons senior in age or status can address a person by their ming or perhaps your very close friends. It was considered rude for peers and juniors to do so. Instead, they should use the zi. Note that even in modern times it's considered rude for juniors in a familial setting to address seniors by their ming. This is the case even today and in China and other East/South East Asian countries, it would be extremely unusual or rude for a child to call their parent or elder relatives by their given name or first name (even if it’s their Western name).
The zi is also granted (again, typically by the father or grandfather) when a person comes of age: for men, at 20 and for women, it varies - upon marriage, at 15 or other ages depending on the time period. It's translated as the courtesy name because the zi is the name that peers and juniors use to address an "adult" person if they wanted to be civilized and courteous - as mentioned above, it was considered rude to address an adult person by their ming.
Courtesy names usually have some connection with the given names and also have some moral or other symbolic meaning related to the person. An easy example is Zhuge Liang Kong Ming, the famous strategist and politician in the Three Kingdoms period. Xing Zhuge (诸葛), ming Liang (亮) and zi Kong Ming (孔明): his ming, Liang 亮 means shine or bright and his zi is connected as the second character Ming 明 also means bright. So the lord, Liu Bei, could address him as Liang (but would generally not do so as that would be impolite especially in a formal setting) and he would certainly refer to himself as Liang. Most people would address him as Kong Ming or even Zhuge Kong Ming or by his title.
If you haven’t guessed by now, it’s only the literati or those of a higher social status would have a zi. Commoners get by with only the ming – if you're already of low status, it doesn't matter what people call you.
The hao 号or “We are the Knights who say Ni! “
The hao is an honorific or pseudonym, usually given by oneself but also sometimes by others. The hao is usually related to the person in some fashion. It could refer to the place or area/region of residence, certain sayings or descriptions of the person, the person's famous literary works or official posts or birthplace. For example, the Song dynasty poet Su Shi gave himself the hao of Dongpo Jushi as he lived on the eastern side of a hill during his "exile". His hao was so popular that was popularly known as Su Dongpo in the vernacular in modern times.
So there you have it, the different names of ancient Chinese. And now if you will excuse me, I’m off to think of a fancy zi and hao for myself.
The author of Romance of the Three Kingdom was heavily “based” in favour of one faction but that’s for another time. The OG, patient zero, fanboy of Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei who used his novel as a superspreader and created countless other Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei fanboys.
If you’re reading this, “仲达,你来了!”.
Everyone who mattered - and everyone who mattered was of course literate, well educated etc. and would understand or “get” the references. If you didn’t understand or “get” it, you sir, I mean, you peasant, are a boor and didn’t matter.
This is why there is sometimes confusion as to what is the surname of a Chinese or other East Asian person if both the “first” and “last” name are words that could be surnames especially if in English or Hanyu Pinyin form. East Asians in the Western part of the world often end up following the Western convention - so East Asians still in East Asia read their stuff and get a reaction from having to mentally move the names into the right order. Asians in the Eastern part of the world writing to the West stick to the Eastern convention and then have the delight of being addressed as Mr First Name.