中国人的姓和名其实，我们每个人在小时候所接受的第一堂家教课，就是由父亲或母亲把着我们稚嫩的小手，在本子上一遍又一遍地练习写自己的名字。

常见的中国人的名字字数由2~4个不等。

通常是由一个或两个姓和一到两个字的名组成。

当然字数超过4个的也存在，这在少数民族中也不是怪事，比如清朝末代皇帝满族人爱新觉罗溥仪，元太祖蒙古族人勃尔只斤铁木真（音译）等。

而我本身对姓氏的来源，家族字辈的划分等感兴趣，所以借着“中国文化”这堂课的熏陶以及课下对相关资料的搜索，我决定以此为题，对我所了解的有关中国人的姓和名的相关知识整理如下：在人类语言形成与发展过程中，文字出现在声音之后。

早在文字创立之前的远古时代，中国人的姓名就已诞生了，如神话传说中开天辟地的英雄，创世的巨人盘古、伏羲、女娲、神农、黄帝等。

待文字产生之后，这些神话中的名字才被整理出来，载入史册。

古代有姓和氏之分。

《释名》（东汉刘熙）中说：“女生为姓，谓子也。

”意思是女子所生为姓，生而有姓。

因此，研究姓名的学者一致认为，华夏之“姓”产生于远古的母系氏族公社时期，“姓”字的创造也是其历史特点的反映。

而“氏”，与现代人姓氏同义的观念不同，与“姓”有严格的区别。

宋代学者郑樵说：“三代之前，姓氏分为二：男子称氏，妇人称姓。

……”这也是随历史发展，男性地位上升的体现。

另外，一姓可包括若干氏。

也就是说，姓是大宗的族号，氏是由大宗分出的支系小宗的族号。

因此，历史传说中的黄帝称轩辕氏，炎帝称烈山氏，尧为陶唐氏，舜为有虞氏。

这不是氏族领袖人物个人的私名，而是他们所在氏族的公名。

历史的车轮滚滚前进，姓和氏的来源也由简单到复杂地向前发展。

以国名为氏的有管，晋等；以地为氏的有东郭、南宫等；以排行第次为氏的有伯、仲等；官爵有史、帅；技艺有卜、屠等等。

随后有出现来源于山河的姓，如乔，姜；来源于数理的姓，如第一，第五等等。

虽然氏由姓分化而来，但是由于宗法制度的存在，知道春秋末年，二者的区别，也就是门第观，仍很严格。

进入战国时代，社会动荡，世卿世禄的宗法制度无法维持，公子王孙沦为平民。

到了西汉，姓氏渐渐的也被认为是同一概念了。

如今，人们的名字除了姓外，还有名。

《清稗类钞》中说“名字所取，根于心意，沿于时尚，因时变迁”。

姓名的形式和内容都随着历史的变化而变化、由散漫到规范，由简单到复杂，与时俱进，以适应社会交往方式的更新换代。

西汉经济繁荣国力强盛，整个社会充满雄阔、宏大蓬勃向上的气象，这种向上的社会意识反映在命名上，便出现了“超”、“彪”、“雄”、“霸”“胜”、“武”等，如班超、扬雄、黄霸、苏武等。

当张道陵五斗米教盛行时，上层贵族和文人沉迷其中，于是“道”、“之”便大量出现在名字中，如王羲之，魏晋时期的司马让之、顾恺之等。

由当时士大夫对“之”字的毫不避讳，可窥出那是流行的“之”字的社会风气。

除此两例，从中国历史时期的取名习俗上，可以看出不同时代、不同潮流对取名文化都有巨大的影响。

说到名字，与现代中国人不同的是，古人的名字包括“名”和“字”两部分。

从周代开始，人们就在取名外另取字。

这就是所谓的“幼（出生三月）名（加名），冠（二十岁）字（加字）”。

古人起名取字也有讲究。

最常见的有名与字含义相同或相近的，如屈原，名平，字原：《尔雅》中解释“广平曰原”；诸葛亮，字孔明，“亮”与“明”的字义相同。

名与子含义正好相反或相对是选择，如北宋词人晏殊，字同叔。

另外如关羽的字云长采用了由此及彼的联想方法：由鸟儿的羽毛联想到天空的浮云。

除名和字外，古人也有取号赠号的习惯。

号往往带有艺术色彩。

名人雅士自己起的号谓“自号”，别人送的是“尊号”或“雅号”；人死后，后人根据其生前的事迹给予的号叫“谥号”；黄帝在台庙里立室奉祀，特立专号——“庙号”，称某祖、某宗。

例子有老子，字老聃，号广成子；李白，字太白，号青莲居士；唐太宗的儿子李承乾封号为“恒山王”；诸葛亮在世时号武乡侯，别号卧龙先生，死后的谥号为忠武等。

古人取号时，有的以居住地环境自号，有的以室名斋名为号；有的好用来表志趣、抒灵性；也有的暗寓深意。

赠号是可依其轶事为特征，也可以以官职、任所、出生地为号，还有的为封爵。

如朱熹自号锦堂老人，乾隆晚年自号古稀天子，王安石谥号临川，康有为称康南海等。

另外在民间，古人取名的寓意大多为图光宗耀祖、强调道德规范（如仁，德），祈福（如福，寿），尊古敬宗（如仰，慕），消灾（如霍去病，辛弃疾）还有的是为了添寿（如万年，鹤龄）等。

取名的方式也有卜名（占卜），撞名（以偶然事件为依据），借名（如拜岩石为干爹，而后借其名），寄名（即将名字通过金锁或红布袋寄存于神佛处，以此保佑）等。

人们之所以会在名字这一代号上大费苦心，是因为人们认为姓名是一个人安身立命的根本，也是张扬自我价值的人生旗帜。

有关研究学者也发现一个好名字可以时时唤起人们的美好联想，使当事人得到鞭策和鼓舞，自信心不断增强。

因此，姓名里所传达出的信息对人们有潜意识有自动开发、导航的功能。

如清代大学者纪昀，字晓岚，官至大学士，曾任《四库全书》的主编。

在他的名字中，“昀”是日光之义；“晓岚”与名相应，意指黎明将在蒙蒙晨雾中破晓，喻其人如一日之晨，初升之阳。

事实也证明纪晓岚自小聪明好学，后来大放异彩，成为一代风流才子。

相反有的人的名字既谈不上什么文化意蕴，也没有什么积极生活状态可言，如二牛，阿大之类。

这样的人可能会因为名字影响而不求上进，无所事事。

但是同样起这类名字的人也不乏兢兢业业，事业有成者。

不能一概而论，关键在于个人努力。

中华民族上下五千年，中国人姓和名的文化随同中国的其他历史文化的产生而产生，发展而发展，变化而变化。

一个人的名字既是个性化的符号，又是具有社会特征和个体特征的文化象征。

尽管名字的好与坏一定程度上会对人的心理产生或积极或消极的作用，我们也不能完全将个人的消极状态完全归咎于姓名，而迷信的认为今日改名明日就立即成功，马上暴富。

我们应该认清事实，通过自己的不懈能力，为自己争取一片蓝天。

Chinese personal nameTalking about Chinese personal name that the first jumps into Chinese people’s mind is Baijiaxing (Hundred Family Surnames); while the first class at home during our childhood is to learn how to write our names usually taught by either parent. Generally, every one Chinese personal name consists of two to five Chinese characters—family name one or two (e.g. Ximen西门)，and surname one or two; and those having more than five characters used by minorities, for example a Mongol Empire Bo’erzhijin Tiemuzhen(孛尔支斤铁木真) in Y uan Dynasty whose name translated by its sound in Mongolian include seven Chinese characters. With enormous interest and curiosity, I found a book on Chinese name culture then sorting some main information as follow:Nowadays, Chinese names typically consist of three syllables – a monosyllabic family name and a disyllabic given name – with each syllable having a particular tone and being written as a single Chinese character. About one in seven people have a two-syllable name, but fewer than 0.2 of one percent – many of them are ethnic minorities – have a name of four or more syllables. The original Chinese personal names had emerged long before writing words, taking the example of heroes that created the world with axe in ancient mysteries: the Giant Pan Goo(盘古), Fu His(伏羲) etc. Only after the writing words, were those names sorted out into historical books.In old times, people would distinguish Xing (the surname) from Shi (the name of a clan) strictly, because in Chinese character Xing(姓), having a Nǔ( means female) as its component andthus representing female, came into being during Matrilineal Family time, while Shi(氏) emerged afterwards as the promotion of men's social position and th erefore stood for male. That’s why Chinese people call Yellow Emperor, a legendary ruler, as Xuanyuan Shi(轩辕氏) and Yan Emperor Lieshan Shi(烈山氏). Chinese ancestors took the boundary of each Xing and Shi so seriously that formed stubborn concept of Mendi(门第观) lasting thousands years. However when the wheel of history rolled in Warring States, kings, princes and aristocrats who lost their battles commonly faced with disguising as the humble by changing their names and that result in the slighter difference between porphyrogenite and the commoners; and the traditional concept was broken.Different from westerners, Chinese people have no middle name; since majority of them are not Christians thus no Christian names as well, but what they have is a more complex address system: Family Name or Surname(Xing), Given Name(Ming), Generation Name(Zibei), School Name(Xueming)，Milk Name or Pet Name, Temple Name and Style Name. From the very beginning, a big family sharing one surname might have several different Shi, which were mostly from the name of their clans. Then king having the rights to distribute lands granted their relatives or ministers who had made great contributions titles(封号). Some minsters(臣子) changed their names of family accordingly into that title. For example, during West Zhou Period, when Xing and Shi coexisted, People sharing the same Xing was a big family while Shi a smaller one. Even some of Shi is one of the branches of a Xing. The king of Zhou named Ji(姬) as his Xing, also a big family, and Lu Shi(鲁氏), Wei Shi(卫氏), Jin Shi(晋氏) were all Ji’s branches. Besides choosing their title as family name, the old people found some other ways as well. Dongguo(东郭)，a two-syllabic name, was originated as the place where they lived(it means the west side of a city wall); Diwu(第五), also a two-syllabic name, came from the cardinal numeral( Number Five); and another one Jiang(姜) was name of the descendants of Yan Emperor who lived beside the Jiang River(a tributary of Wei Shui River) took the name of the river. Apart from that, there were some other origins of different Xing and Shi which it’s limited to list them all out here.Talking about Given Name, it’s widely agreed among name researchers that the coming-out of every noun which was firstly used as Given Name was an indirect reflection of the social condition at that time. Here also is the example: West Han Dynasty was an economic prosperity period in the history. Then Chao(超, surpassing), Biao(彪, a young tiger), Xiong(雄,powerfulness) and Ba(霸, domination) emerged in people’s name. So we have Ban Chao(班超), Huang Ba(黄霸), Xiahou Sheng(夏侯胜) and Su Wu(苏武) in annals. Nowadays in China, people tend to choose a beautiful name to a newborn follow these customs: first, to make their ancestors illustrious and succeed some moral virtual, words like Ren(仁,benevolence), Yi(义,righteousness), Zhong(忠,loyalty) and Xiao(孝,filial piety) were commonly used; second, to bless either the baby or the whole family, Fu(福,blessing) and Gui(贵, preciousness) were widely adopted; third, to remove ill fortune, we have Huo Qubin(霍去病,erasing the illness) and Xin Qiji(辛弃疾, avoiding sickness) and so on; last but not least, Shou(寿,longevity) came to bless a longer longevity.Within families, it is often considered inappropriate or even offensive to use the given names of relatives who are senior to the speaker. Instead, it is more customary to identify each family member by abstract hierarchical connections: among siblings, gender and birth order (big sister, second sister, and so on); for the extended family, the manner of relationship (by birth or marriage; from the maternal or paternal side).The hierarchical titles of junior relatives are seldom used except in formal situations, or asindirect reference when speaking to family members who are even younger than the person in question. Children can be called by their given names, or their parents may use their nicknames.Whereas titles in many cultures are commonly solely determined by gender and, in some cases, marital status, the occupation or even work title of a person can be used as a title as a sign of respect in common address in Chinese culture. Because of the prestigious position of a teacher in traditional culture, a teacher is invariably addressed as such by his or her students (e.g. Chinese: 李老師; pinyin: LǐLǎoshī; literally "Teacher Li"), and commonly by others as a mark of respect. By extension, a junior or less experienced member of a work place or profession would address a more senior member as "Teacher".When it comes to people’s alternative name, traditionally, babies were named a hundred days after their birth; modern naming laws grant the parents a month before requiring the baby to be registered. Upon birth, the parents often use a "milk name" (乳名, rǔmíng; 小名) –typically employing diminutives like xiǎo (小, little) or doubled characters – before a formal name is settled upon, often in consultation with the grandparents. The milk name may be abandoned, but is often continued as a form of familial nickname, taking an example of "Little Fatty" (小胖) the more acceptable in Chinese. The school name (t 學名, s 学名, xuémíng) was a separate formal name used by the child while they were at school. As binomial nomenclature also called xuémíng in Chinese, the school name is also sometimes now referenced as the xùnmíng (訓名) to avoid confusion. Upon majority, it was common for educated males to acquire a style (字, zì) or courtesy name (表字, biǎozì) either from one's parents, a teacher, or self-selection. The name commonly mirrored the meaning of one's given name or displayed his birth order within his family. Pseudonyms or aliases (t 號, s 号, hào) or pen names (t 筆名, s 笔名, bǐmíng) were self-selected alternative courtesy names, most commonly three or four characters long. They may have originated from too many people having the same style name. Posthumous names (t 諡號, s 谥号, shìhào) were honorary names selected after a person's death, used extensively for royalty. The common "names" of most Chinese emperors before the Tang Dynasty –with the pointed exception of Shi Huangdi –are their posthumous ones. In addition to emperors, successful courtiers and politicians such as Sun Yat-sen also occasionally received posthumous titles. The temple name (t 廟號, s 庙号, miàohào) of the emperor inscribed on the spiritual tablets of the imperial ancestral temple often differed from his posthumous name. The structure eventually became highly restricted, consisting of a single adjective and either zǔ(祖) or zōng (宗). These common "names" of the emperors between the Tang and the Yuan are their temple ones.Even a Chinese, anyone who comes across those complex names will feel light in the head, so for further understanding, here is a more specific example of the relationship of each name in the following table:Chinese associated names for prominent people,example of Sun Yat-sen's namesOfficial name: Sūn Démíng (孫德明)Milk name: Sūn Dìxiàng (孫帝象)School name: Sūn Wén (孫文)Caricatural name: unknownCourtesy names: Sūn Zàizhī(孫載之)Pseudonym(s): 1. Sūn Rìxīn (孫日新)a2. Sūn Yìxiān (孫逸仙, 1886)aJap. Nakayama Shō(中山樵, 1897)-Death, Honorary titles :Posthume name: Guófù(國父)Temple name: noneEra name: noneNotes : a. both pronounce "Sun Yat-sen" in Cantonese ;b. only for Royalty and Emperors;c. only for Royalty and Emperors'reigns.No matter how fair-sounding, a name is just a code of people; so why do people still willing to be immersed in choosing a good name? The reason perhaps is that people reckon names can influence their lives to some extent. Some researchers have found that a good name can not only evoke a better association of life, but also act as the spur and encouragement to one’s belief, and thus enhance one’s self-confidence potentially. Therefore, the information conveyed in a good name generally stimulates one’s automatic subconscious development, and guides people’s future. For example, an official scholar in Qing Dynasty, Ji Yun(纪昀), whose style name is Xiaolan(晓岚, the light mist at dawn), served as the editor of "Si Ku Quan Shu"(《四库全书》, a famous book in China). In his name, "Yun"(昀) is the meaning of the daylight; "Xiaolan" corresponding to the name means the first light of a day will break the misty fog at dawn, which suggests him the morning hours of a day and the rising of the sun. Actually, he proved what was contented by his name as well: when Ji Xiaolan was still a child, he behaved his genius smart, and was studious; and later he achieved his goal as the generation of Libertine. On the contrary, if the name of some people is neither culturally impressive, nor active to prove one’s life, such as Er’niu(二牛), A’da(阿大), there will be scare possibility for that person to gain great achievements or any contribution. They may not make any progresses and tend to doing nothing just because of their meaningless name. But we always cannot say that’s an unchangeable golden rule for there is also someone famous, dedicated and successful in career whose name is not so profound. It cannot be generalized, and the most important factor is the one’s personal efforts.In the five-thousand-year history of Chinese nation, the culture of people’s personal name produced, developed and changed along with Chinese other historical culture. A name is not only a personalized symbol of each individual, but also a cultural symbol of social characteristics and individual characteristics. Although whether the name is good or not to a certain extent reflects on either a positive or a negative will of one’s psychologic al state, we cannot completely own the negative state of the individual merely to name, and such superstitions that once we altered our name, we have a better tomorrow immediately, or be rich in the next minute. We should recognize and accept the fact, correcting our attitude to an objective one that only through our continuously struggling, can we earn ourselves a respectable reputation.。