Surnames and first names in ancient China were more complex than they are today. Before the Qin and Han dynasties, the same person could be called many times, but it was gradually fixed in the Warring States period, and after the Qin and Han dynasties, it was basically the same as now.
Let's start with the origin and variation of surnames.
There are many ancient surnames with female characters as the side, and there is probably a distinction between surnames during the matrilineal clan commune period. Why is it necessary to have a distinction between surnames? The Eastern Han Dynasty historian Ban Gu explained in "The White Tiger Tongyi": "Why do people have surnames? Therefore, remembering the different categories of the world, so that life loves each other, death mourns each other, and those who cannot marry each other with the same surname are all respectful. ”
Bangu's words can be divided into three points:
First, the surname is a different type of family, that is, the early surname is a kind of family name, it is not the title of an individual person, nor a single family, but the title of the entire clan. Clans in ancient Chinese society, such as: Yellow Emperor, surnamed Ji, Emperor Yan, surnamed Jiang, Taihao, surnamed Feng, Shaohao, surnamed Ying. In a clan society, there were originally many different clans. The term "common people" originally referred mainly to a large number of clans.
The Three Emperors and Five Emperors are not only the ancestors of humanity, but also the ancestors of surnames.
Gu Yanwu recorded in the "Daily Knowledge": Those with surnames are originally from the Five Emperors, and those who are seen in the Spring and Autumn Period have two out of twenty. The twenty-two surnames are: Fei, Ji, Zi, Ji, Jiang, Feng, Win, Ji, Ren, Yao, Xiong, Cao, Qi, Fei, Dong, Yan, Gui, Man, Mi, Kui, Qi, and Yun. The 22 surnames seen in the Spring and Autumn Period are the descendants of the 22 clans that continued to the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient times. Zhang Taiyan and other scholars sorted out 59 ancient surnames from ancient graphic inscriptions, oracle bone inscriptions, gold inscriptions and other documents, plus a total of 81 original ones.
Second, the surname has the function of "not marrying". In a clan society, there is no intermarriage with the same surname, that is, people within the same clan are not allowed to intermarry. Engels said: "No member of a clan may intermarry within a clan. This is the fundamental principle of the clan, which holds the bonds of the clan together, and it is the negation of the very affirmative kinship with which the individual to whom he is bound becomes a clan. It can be seen from this that the surname as a clan title has great significance in the ancient society of the mainland.
The ancients have long pointed out that men and women have the same surname, and their lives are not rich. They already knew that marriage by blood was not good for the inheritance of offspring, so the rule of not marrying with the same surname has been observed by the mainland for generations. Now it is possible to intermarry with the same surname because people with the same surname are related by blood, but they are very distant, and some are not related at all. And men and women who are close by blood should still not intermarry.
The non-intermarriage of the same surname was of great significance in the reproduction of ancient societies.
Third, the surname has the function of "respecting affection and affection", and "respecting affection and affection" not only refers to the closeness and thinness of human relations, thoughts and feelings, but more importantly, it involves political rights and material interests. Engels said: "The name of the clan is intimately linked to the rights of the clan from the very beginning. Thus, in a clan society, members of the clan enjoyed all kinds of rights within the clan on an equal footing, and in a slave society, the "common people" referred to the nobility, while the slaves had no surname. Even in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, ordinary civilians did not have surnames. For example, the 麏麑 and Lingfu in "Zuo Chuan", and the Ku Ding and Jiangshi in "Zhuangzi" are all nameless and surnameless. The aristocracy had a surname, and the commoners did not, so the surname also became a sign to distinguish class status.
The confusion of Kuding
In ancient times, the continent had not only surnames, but also clans. The surname and the first name are both related and different, and I want to know what happens next, and listen to the next breakdown.