In the art of naming, there may be no one in this world higher than the Chinese man-made reputation, because the ancient Chinese, especially those with a certain culture and status, besides the surname, name, first name, and name, Calculated in this way, a Chinese can have several titles, such as Su Shi with the word Zizhan, and the name Dongpo Lay. We can call him Su Shi, Su Zizhan, or Su Dongpo. Mr. Lin Yutang In the preface of The Biography of Su Dongpo, in order to avoid the complicated name and font size of the Chinese, he went to great lengths. He eliminated the names of unimportant people and tried to ensure that only one name is used before and after the characters appearing in the book to ensure that readers are reading. Will not be confused by the complicated name and font size.
But no matter how the name, font, and number change, the surname will always remain the same, because the surname is the expression of the continuation of the Chinese descendants and the family, and is a symbol for distinguishing blood relationship. But did you know that in the earliest days, surnames and surnames had different functions and functions, and surnames gradually became one after the Qin Dynasty.
So, what is the difference between the original Chinese surname and surname?
surname
"The surname is from his ancestors. "—— "Tong Jian Wai Ji"
The origin of Chinese surnames comes from primitive worship, especially totem worship. People in primitive society believe that a totem is the ancestor of a group, and the name of a totem is also a group After the transition from primitive society to matrilineal clan society, in order to distinguish the ancestors, surnames were born—usually tribal names or leader names.
In a matrilineal clan society, people are based on tribes, and the main relationship is the matrilineal blood relationship. Children live from the mother, inheritance and lineage are also counted by the matriline. In the marriage relationship, women marry men from other clans. Men have to take the form of visits to other clans to marry women and reproduce offspring. This kind of marriage relationship is not stable, so children usually only know their mothers and don’t know who their fathers are. Later, after development, the men move to live in the female clan. , The marriage relationship was gradually consolidated, and later monogamy was formed.
The transition from group marriage to marriage based on blood relationship is a major milestone in the history of human evolution.
Regardless of the blood relationship or the husband and wife relationship, they are all based on the maternal family, so the children naturally follow the mother's surname. Therefore, the oldest surnames in China are the female characters, the famous eight surnames in ancient times: Ji, Yao, Gui, Si, Jiang, Ying, Jia, and Hua, all of them.
For example, Huangdi, he was the tribal leader of the Huaxia nation in ancient times. According to legend, Huangdi lived on the shore of Jishui, so he named Ji as his surname. The Records of the "Historical Records·The Benji of Five Emperors" record: "The twenty-five sons of Huangdi, his surname The fourteen people", the familiar Yao, Shunyu, Shangqi, and Houji are all descendants of the emperor. Among them, Houji (Shennong) inherited the surname of Ji, and his descendants established the Zhou Dynasty. The king of Zhou Wu was Ji Fa, and later Zhou Tianzi divided the princes. Among them, there were 53 princes surnamed Ji, and various surnames were branched from these princes. The Song Dynasty's "Bai Jia Xing" originally included 411 surnames, which were derived from Ji It is not without reason that the Yellow Emperor is the ancestor of the Chinese nation.
clan
" clan of 9 eds, separate from their descendants. "——"通鉴外纪"
People can trace their ancestors if they have a surname, but at the same time a new problem arises-the tribe will continue to develop and expand, then it will Different branches, these new branches have a common ancestor, a common surname, how to distinguish? Ever since, the new branch of the tribe that went out independently began to help itself.The same title, this is the origin of the clan.
That is to say, the first name is the branch mark of the last name.
The ownership clan that is branched out of the same father's surname is usually clan by the clan, tribe, or tribal alliance of the ancestor that branched out. After entering the slavery society, there is the concept of nation, and the one who inherits the throne is the big clan. Others The descendant branch has the same surname, but the country, town, place or official name, posthumous name, etc., as the family name. This is Xiaozong.
These small sects will continue to spread branches and leaves, and multiply their offspring. The first small sect to be branched out becomes the ancestor of their branch.
For example, Qin Shihuang and his family, we all know the surname Zhao, how did this come from?
It turned out that the ancestor of the Qin State, Shaohao, took the swallow (xuan bird) as the totem, and Ying and Yan had the same pronunciation, so they became the ancestor of the surname Ying. The descendants of Shaohao were once named in the land of Zhao. With the Ying surname Zhao, speaking of it, the ancestors of the Qin State and the Zhao State are quite related.
Family name marriage, family name
before Shang Qin, especially Xia In the three generations, the functions and functions of surnames and surnames are completely different. The simple point is that everyone has their own surname and first name, but only nobles can have a surname. There are too many branches of surnames, and only the clan can represent the status of this branch. Therefore, the clan is a symbol of identity and status, and noble men call the clan without the surname.
For women, the last name is more important than the surname. As mentioned earlier, the surname is used to distinguish the blood relationship. The ancestors have long understood the harm of inbreeding, and the same surname is often related to each other by blood. Intermarriage, on the contrary, if the family name is the same but the last name is different, it can be intermarried.
After a woman gets married, she precedes her surname with a country or family name, such as Qi Jiang, the wife of Wang Chong’er of Jin Wen, which means a woman with the surname Jiang of Qi, or her husband’s family name or country name, such as Zhang The daughter of the family married Zhao Jiaer and she was called Zhao Zhang.
Summary
Last name and name, both have a clear surname and name before Xia Shang Wednesday It was different. Until the Warring States period, rituals collapsed, surnames began to be chaotic, and many surnames gradually became surnames. After the first emperor unified China, he abolished the system of enfeoffment and implemented the system of prefectures and counties. Without enfeoffment, the clan would naturally decrease, because the previous However, the origin of the clan is generally the name of the country and place where the branch is located. The combination of Qin Shihuang not only disintegrated the old aristocracy, and basically ended the aristocratic patriarchal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The old clan system has no place to stand. The difference between surname and clan It has been minimal.
Until the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Qian wrote the "Historical Records", and simply no longer divided the surnames, and directly confused them. For example, in the "Ben Ji", there is the saying that Qin Shihuang’s surname is Zhao and Han Gaozu’s surname is Liu. Qing scholar Gu Yanwu wrote "The Record" reads: "The name of the surname has been mixed since Taishi Gong."
Since Taishi Gong, Chinese surnames and surnames have been officially merged into one, both surnames and surnames, and then Regardless of the distinction between noble and inferior, ordinary civilians can also have their own surnames, and the ordinary people have become the collective name of the common people in the world.
To a certain extent, the unification of surnames marks the rise of the status of civilians, which is really a great merit!
