Inheriting affection, intention and aspiration contains essence, qi and god. Chinese name culture has accumulated and evolved over thousands of years, telling the humanistic feelings, historical accumulation, social development, and spiritual interests of Chinese...
The Ministry of Public Security released the national name report for the fourth time on the 24th, using big data technology to conduct statistical analysis of the use of newborn names, common surnames, common personal names and geographical distribution across the country.
Carefully tasting, it is not difficult to find from this report that the "hidden" in the names of the Chinese people is profound, long-standing, inclusive, harmonious and different national cultures.
Rich in Chinese beauty
According to the report, as of December 31, 2021, a total of 8.873 million newborns born in 2021 and have been registered with the public security organs, of which 4.681 million are male newborns, accounting for 52.75% and 4.192 million are female newborns, accounting for 47.25%.
The report shows that among the names of newborns born in 2021 and have been registered for household registration, the 50 words with the highest frequency of use are Ze, Zi, Zi, Yu, Mu and so on.
In recent years, more and more parents have sought inspiration from classical literature such as the Book of Poetry, chu ci and Tang poetry and Song Ci. In fact, the tradition of taking names to pay attention to the source has been ancient, and selecting words from the classics is Chinese common method of naming.
For example, the eldest son of Qin Shi Huang is named Fu Su, and the "Book of Poetry and Zheng Feng" has "the mountain has Fu Su, and the Yin has Lotus". The name of the Northern Song Dynasty poet Zhou Bangyan coincides with the "Son of Pi Qi, Bang Zhi Yan Xi" in the Book of Poetry and Zheng Feng.
Concise and condensed, beautiful imagery; rhythmic rhyme, catchy... This is the unique beauty of the land of poetry.
The pre-Qin "Book of Poetry", "Chu Ci", "Two Han Lefu Poems", Wei and Jin Wuyan Poems, Tang Poems, Song Ci, Yuan Qu, etc., are the best works of the past dynasties, which are the carrier symbols of the transmission of traditional Chinese culture, and also provide rich materials for parents to convey cultural self-confidence and express deep blessings to their children through naming names.
In the 2021 national name report, you can also glimpse one or two -
"A little haoran qi, a thousand miles fast wind", revealing Su Shi's free atmosphere.
Among the male newborns born in 2021 and have already registered for household registration, the most frequently used names such as Haoyu, Muchen, Haoran, and Muyang can see the meaning of the sunshine atmosphere.
"The sycamore is more combined with drizzle, to dusk, bit by bit", containing Li Qingzhao's delicate grace.
Among the female newborns born in 2021 and have been registered for household registration, the most frequently used names such as Yinuo, Yihan, Yutong, and Yutong not only reflect gentleness, but also reflect the aesthetic beauty of traditional poetry.
The report shows that at present, in addition to the surname, single-character names account for 13.97%, two-character names account for 84.55%, and other word names account for 1.48%.
Among the national household registration population, the 10 most frequently used two-character names are: Xiuying, Guiying, Xiulan, Yulan, Tingting, Jianhua, Guilan, Yumei, Xiuzhen, and Haiyan. Among them, "Xiuying" ranked first, with 2.169 million users.
It is worth mentioning that these 10 two-word names are not "exclusive" to men or women. "Jianhua" is used by 361,000 women in the country, while "Tingting" is used by 0.1 million men in the country.
Geographical distribution of surnames
The province with the most population distribution of the 22 surnames such as Wang, Li and Zhang is Henan; the province with the largest population distribution of the twelve surnames of Liu, Sun and Gao is Shandong; the province with the largest population distribution of the nine surnames of Xu, Zhu and Ding is Jiangsu; the province with the largest population distribution of the five surnames of Pan, Lu and Wei is Guangxi; the province with the largest population distribution of the four surnames of Cheng, Wang, and Fang is Anhui; and the province with the largest population distribution of the three surnames of Zou, Xiong and Wan is Jiangxi.
From the overall distribution, common surnames are widely distributed, and are distributed in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across the country, but there is also a certain spatial aggregation.
The characteristics of the common compound surname "settlement" are more prominent.
33.86% of the population with the compound surname "Ouyang" is distributed in Hunan; 32.72% of the population with the compound surname "Huangfu" is distributed in Henan; 31.06% of the population with the compound surname "Zhuge" is distributed in Zhejiang; 88.19% of the population with the compound surname "Situ" is distributed in Guangdong; 30.28% of the population with the compound surname "Sima" is distributed in Henan; and 74.87% of the population with the compound surname "Xiahou" is distributed in Jiangxi.
The report points out that traditional surnames are distributed according to blood and geography, and the current distribution pattern of surnames is gradually formed by factors such as regime changes, economic development, population migration, and ethnic integration.
Zhuge Liang, Xiahou Huan, Ouyang Xiu, eldest grandson Wujie... In the long course of history, those compound characters are impressive.
According to the report, "Ouyang" ranks the largest number of compound surnames in the mainland with 1.117 million people, and the rest of the compound surname population does not exceed 100,000 people, of which the population of the compound surname "Zhuge" is 49,000, the population of the compound surname "Sima" is 23,000, and the population of the compound surname "Changsun" is 0.3 million.
Inherit the context of meteorology
The mainland's long historical and cultural heritage has created a unique culture of personal names, and in different historical periods, the rules and customs that people follow in naming names are also different, reflecting the strong characteristics of the times.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the names were given to the "five categories" and "six noes", that is, "there are five names, there are faiths, there are righteousness, there are elephants, there are falses, there are categories" and "not to the country, not to the officials, not to the mountains, not to hide diseases, not to livestock, not to be named as instruments".
During the Two Han Dynasties, the name was gentle and elegant, and there was also an expectation of happiness and happiness, and more advocated the heroism of meritorious achievements. Such as Su Wu, Huo Zhiyi, Li Yannian, Liu Xiu, Ban Gu...
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, metaphysics and Buddhism were popular, and names such as Xie Xuan and Wang Shengjie emerged. The Southern Dynasty also used the word "Zhi" in the names of people, such as Wang Xizhi's family and Zu Chongzhi. The Names of the Northern Dynasties were more straightforward and straightforward, such as Fu Vertical Eyes and Lu Dafei.
In the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism was revived, and Confucian names such as Wei Chi Jingde and Di Renjie shined in the starry sky of history.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, the custom of taking names from generation to generation was gradually formed. The Song Dynasty liked to use the five elements to order the generations, taking the meaning of the five elements, water born of wood, wood made of fire, and fire gave birth to earth. For example, the Southern Song Dynasty Minister Zhang Jun, Zi Zhang Yu, Sun Zhang Zhuo.
To this day, the surging tide of the times is still clearly projected in the names of thousands of households. After the founding of New China, "Founding of the People's Republic" and "Zhenhua" emerged, reflecting the people's enthusiasm for building a new China; single-character names such as "Wei, Jun, Courageous, Quiet, and Beautiful" also became popular in the 1970s and 1980s, reflecting the people's pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty.
Fame, glory, fame through the ages... The name is not only the identity symbol of each Chinese, but also the ardent hopes and good wishes of family relatives and friends, reflecting the pursuit and ambition of the individual.
The beauty of the name, the beauty in the cultural accumulation, the beauty in the innovative expression, the beauty in the vitality of the times, the beauty in the Chinese style.
A hundred flowers bloom, colorful, inherit self-confidence, and pass on to future generations. You and I name, hence the Chinese.
Reporters: Xiong Feng and Zhai Xiang
Editor: Je wenjin
Produced by Xinhua News Agency