Editing Chinese name (section)

==Alternative names==
{{See also|Naming taboo|Taboo on rulers|Table of Chinese monarchs}}

From their earliest recorded history, the Chinese observed a number of [[naming taboo]]s, avoiding the names of their elders, [[taboo against naming the dead|ancestors]], and [[taboo on rulers|rulers]] out of respect and fear. As a result, the upper classes of traditional Chinese culture typically employed a variety of names over the course of their lives, and the [[table of Chinese monarchs|emperors]] and [[ancestor veneration in China|sanctified deceased]] had still others.

Current naming practices are more straightforward and consistent, but a few pseudonyms or alternate names remain common.

When discussing Chinese writers, Chinese and Japanese scholars do not consistently use particular names, whether they are private names or alternative names.<ref>Chan, Wing-tsit. ''Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy''. [[Greenwood Publishing Group]], 1 March 2002. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dzmMaVTvUzAC&pg=PR12 xii]. Retrieved on 1 April 2012. {{ISBN|1-4008-0964-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-4008-0964-6}}. "Chinese and Japanese scholars are not consistent in using the various names of Chinese writers."</ref>

{| style="float:right; border:1px solid #ccd2d9; margin:5px" bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
!style="background:#ccf; border-bottom:1px solid #ccd2d9" colspan=2| '''Chinese names for prominent people''' <br />Example: [[Names of Sun Yat-sen|Sun Yat-sen]]
|-
| Official name || Sūn Démíng ({{zhi|c=孫德明}})
|-
| Milk name || Sūn Dìxiàng ({{zhi|c=孫帝象}})
|-
| School name: || Sūn Wén ({{zhi|c=孫文}})
|-
| Caricatural name: ||valign="top"| unknown
|-
| Courtesy names: || Sūn Zàizhī ({{zhi|c=孫載之}})
|-
| Christian (baptised) name:  || Sūn Rìxīn ({{zhi|c=孫日新}}, 1883, Hong Kong) <br /> = Syūn Yahtsān ([[Cantonese]])
|-
| Pseudonym(s):  || Sūn Yìxiān ({{zhi|c=孫逸仙}}, 1883, Hong Kong) <br /> = Syūn Yahtsīn ([[Cantonese]]) <br /> Sun Yat-sen (English, 1883, Hong Kong and the West) <br />Nakayama Shō ({{lang|ja|中山樵}}, 1897, Japanese) <br /> Sūn Zhōngshān ({{zhi|c=孫中山}}, 1912, China)
|-
| Posthumous name:|| Guófù ({{zhi|c=國父}})
|-
| Temple name:  || none{{efn|group=prominent|text=Used only for royalty and Emperors}}
|-
|  Era name:  || none{{efn|group=prominent|text=Used only to distinguish years of royalty or Emperor's reigns}}
|-
| colspan="2" | <small>{{notelist |group=prominent}}</small>
|}

===Milk name===
Traditionally, babies were named a hundred days after their birth; modern [[naming laws in the People's Republic of China]] grant the parents a month before requiring the baby to be registered.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} Upon birth, the parents often use a "milk name" ({{zhi|c=乳名|p=rǔmíng}}, {{zhi|c=小名|p=xiǎomíng}})—typically employing [[Chinese diminutives|diminutives]] like {{zhi|p=xiǎo|c=小}}, <small>lit.</small> "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. A tradition sometimes attached to the milk name is to select an unpleasant name, to ward off demons who might wish to harm the child.<ref>{{cite book|last=Norman|first=Teresa|title=A World of Baby Names|year=2003|publisher=The Berkeley Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-399-52894-1|url=https://archive.org/details/worldofbabynames00norm_1}}</ref>

===Nickname===
Nicknames ({{zhi|first=t|t=綽號|s=绰号|p=chuòhào}}, {{zhi|first=t|t=外號|s=外号|p=wàihào}}) are acquired in much the same way they are in other countries. Not everyone has one. Most that do received theirs in childhood or adolescence from family or friends. Common Chinese nicknames are those based on a person's physical attributes, speaking style, or behavior. Names involving animals are common, although those animals may be associated with different attributes than they are in English: for example, Chinese cows are strong, not stupid; foxes are devious, not clever; pigs are lazy, but not dirty. Similarly, nicknames that might seem especially insulting in English—such as "Little Fatty" ({{zhi|c=小胖}})—are more acceptable in Chinese. One especially common method of creating nicknames is prefixing ''Ā-'' ({{zhi|c=阿}}) or ''Xiǎo'' ({{zhi|c=小}}) to the surname or the second character of the given name. ''Ā-'' is more common in the south and abroad, while ''Xiǎo'' is common throughout China. Both ''Ā-'' and ''Xiǎo'' are distinguished from ''Lǎo'' ({{zhi|c=老}}, "old" but [[#Forms of address|see below]] for usage). Nicknames are rarely used in formal or semi-formal settings, although a famous exception is [[Chen Shui-bian|A-bian]].

===English alias in mainland China===
English is taught throughout China's secondary schools and the English language section is a required component of the ''[[Gaokao]]'', China's college entrance examination. Many Chinese teenagers thus acquire Western names, commonly of English origin, which they may keep and use as nicknames even in Chinese-language contexts. Chinese may adopt English names for a variety of reasons, including foreigners' difficulty with [[Chinese tones]] and better integration of people working in foreign enterprises. Established English names chosen by Chinese may also be those rarely used by native English speakers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=Rachel |date=May 2006 |title=What's in a Name? Chinese Learners and the Practice of Adopting ‘English’ Names |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07908310608668756 |journal=Language, Culture and Curriculum |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=90–103 |doi=10.1080/07908310608668756 |issn=0790-8318}}</ref>

===English alias in Chinese diaspora===
[[Hong Kong name]]s often feature an English alias. 25.8% of [[Hongkonger]]s have English given names as part of their legal names; a further 38.3% of Hongkongers go by English given names even though those are not part of their legal names; the two figures add up to a total of 64.1% of Hongkongers having English names, according to a survey of 2049 respondents in 2015.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Language use, proficiency and attitudes in Hong Kong|first1=John|last1=Bacon-Shone|first2=Kingsley|last2=Bolton|first3=Kang Kwong|last3=Luke|date=2015|location=Hong Kong|publisher=Social Sciences Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong|url=http://www.ssrc.hku.hk/files/language_2/HK_lg_survey_Final.pdf|page=29|access-date=7 June 2023|archive-date=27 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085656/http://www.ssrc.hku.hk/files/language_2/HK_lg_survey_Final.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> More unusual names made and adopted by [[Hongkongers]] are created by modifying normal English names – either by deleting, inserting or substituting specific letters (e.g. Kith, Sonija, Garbie), or by emulating the phonetic sounds of the Chinese name (e.g. [[Hacken Lee]] from Lee Hak-kan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hksarblog.blogspot.com/|title=NOTABLE NAMES (Brilliant Funny Weird Monikers)|website=hksarblog.blogspot.com|access-date=2018-11-07|archive-date=9 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109163359/http://hksarblog.blogspot.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> English aliases are widely used at schools, at work, and in social circles. This is probably due to the influence from the prolonged British rule of Hong Kong from 1841 to 1997.

In [[Malaysian Chinese|Malaysia]] and [[Chinese Singaporean|Singapore]], it is equally acceptable for Western names to appear before or after the Chinese given name, in Latin characters. Thus, the Singaporean President [[Tony Tan Keng Yam|Tony Tan]] might see his name written as "Tony Tan Keng Yam" or "Tan Keng Yam Tony".{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} Individuals are free to register their [[legal name]]s in either format on their identity cards. In general use, the English name first version is typically preferred as it keeps the correct order for both systems; however, for administrative purposes, the [[Organisations of the Singapore Government|government agencies]] tend to place the English name last to organize lists of names and databases more easily, similar to the Western practice of organizing names with the last name first followed by a comma ("Smith, John"). In Singapore, there is an option to include the Chinese characters on one's [[National Registration Identity Card]].

In [[Indonesia]], one of the countries with the largest [[Chinese diaspora]] population, the [[Indonesian Chinese]] in Indonesia and in diaspora has mostly adopted [[Chinese Indonesian surname|Indonesian-sounding variations of Chinese names]] due to decades of regulation and acculturation. Conversely, the usage of these Indonesian-sounding Chinese names are not restricted for surnames, and many are used liberally between other surnames since many Indonesian Chinese did not keep track of their Chinese (sur)names anymore, and even used by non-Chinese people (with some names being borrowing from regional languages and names).

Among Chinese diaspora residing in Western countries, it is becoming common practice for parents to give their children a Western name as their official first name, with the Chinese given name being officially recorded as a middle name.

===School name===
The school name ({{zhi|c=學名|p=xuémíng}}) was a separate formal name used by the child while they were at school.

As [[binomial nomenclature]] is also called {{Lang|zh-latn|xuémíng}} in Chinese, the school name is also sometimes now referenced as the {{zhp|p=xùnmíng|c=訓名}} to avoid confusion.

===Courtesy name===
{{Main|Courtesy name}}

Upon maturity, it was common for educated males to acquire a courtesy name ({{zhi|c=字|italic=no}}, {{Lang|zh-latn|zì}} or {{zhi|c=表字|italic=no}}, {{Lang|zh-latn|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.

The practice was a consequence of admonitions in the ''[[Book of Rites]]'' that among adults it is disrespectful to be addressed by one's given name by others within the same generation. The true given name was reserved for the use of one's elders, while the courtesy name was employed by peers on formal occasions and in writing. The practice was decried by the [[May Fourth Movement]] and has been largely abandoned.

===Pseudonym===
{{Main|Art name}}

Pseudonyms or aliases ({{zhi|c=号|p=hào}}) or pen names ({{zhi|t=笔名|p=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 courtesy name.

Some—but by no means most—authors do continue to employ stylized pen names. One example is the poet [[Zhao Zhenkai]], whose pen name is "Bei Dao" ({{zhi|c=北岛|l=North Island}}).

===Posthumous name===
{{Main|Posthumous name}}

Posthumous names ({{zhi|c=諡號|p=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.

===Temple name===
{{Main|Temple name}}
{{See also|Ancestor veneration in China}}

The temple name ({{zhi|t=廟號|p=miàohào}}) of the emperor inscribed on the [[spiritual tablet]]s of the [[imperial ancestral temple]] often differed from his posthumous name. The structure eventually became highly restricted, consisting of a single adjective and either {{zhp|p=zǔ|c=祖}} or {{zhp|p=zōng|c=宗}}. These common "names" of the emperors between the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] are their temple ones.

===Era name===
{{Main|Chinese era name|Table of Chinese monarchs}}

The era name ({{zhi|c=年號|p=niánhào}}) arose from the custom of dating years by the reigns of the ruling emperors. Under the [[Han dynasty|Han]], the practice began of changing [[regnal name]]s as means of dispensing with bad luck and attracting better. Almost all era names were literary and employed exactly two characters. By the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties, emperors had largely dispensed with the practice and kept a single era name during their reign, such that it is customary to refer to Ming and Qing emperors by their era names.