Chinese Names

Chinese surnames are said to have originated in the prehistorical matriarchal society. The character for surname, Xing (), is a combination of two other characters, Nv () and Sheng (), meaning 'born of woman. An ancient Chinese name often included 3 parts: first the family name, followed by the given name, and then what's known as the 'style.'

Chinese people always attach great importance to the choice of names. As the old saying goes, under the right name, then can it be within your jurisdiction. In the Chinese earliest dictionary it was explained as follows: name contained the invisible fate and the visible and meaning characters. Fate was something intangible and negative, it coincided with 'the hidden material,' on which the Western scientists are working hard to find out. With concrete form and meaning, name belonged to the positive symbol of characters. It functioned far more than just a code for every specific person.

Therefore in the past, when elders named a new born baby, they took several factors into full consideration: the astrological principles, the birthdate, the array of five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) told by the fortune-teller, the form, pronunciation, and meaning of name. Now superstition being lessened and constraints reduced, there are still some rules of thumb to be followed:
   

1.  balance between the baby's birthdate and the five elements in its life, try to remedy the defects with the name;
2. try to avoid the same initial consonant and simple or compound vowel (of a Chinese syllable), and the same tone in the characters is not preferred either;
3. as to the form, a character with not too many strokes nor the same component will be a good choice;
4.  the preference for the meaning of a character changes with time.
5. cannot repeat the character that is already used by the elderly in the family tree;