Social Brand of Surname Culture in China
Social brand of name
There are nine surnames among Kikuyu people in East Africa, all of which are derived from women's names, and there are still legends about these surnames:
At the beginning of the creation, Jikuyou's ancestor Jikuyou was blessed by the God of Heaven to marry Mubi and gave birth to nine daughters. The Emperor of Heaven then gave nine men to nine sisters as husbands, and they gave birth to many offspring together, forming the Mubi tribe. After Kikuyu and Mubi died, nine daughters separated and became nine lineages. The surnames of these lineages are all slightly changed from the surnames of Jiumei. In these lineages, women's power is supreme. They can "marry" many husbands, and their children all inherit their mothers' surnames. But in the end, the man finally couldn't help it, so he rebelled, and the whole tribe changed from matriarchy to patriarchy. The name of Mubi tribe was also changed to Jikuyu tribe, but only because of the strong resistance of all female citizens, these nine surnames have remained to this day and become the nine largest surnames in Jikuyu.
This legend vividly reflects the kinship between the Kikuyu ethnic name system and social development.
Social life is the source of culture, and it is the complicated social life that constantly contributes to the cultural treasure house that has built a cultural building standing in the forest of all ethnic groups. As one of the cultural phenomena, the name system not only reflects the deep connotation of national culture, shows the track of cultural integration and development, but also reflects people's inner feelings and psychology, and is deeply branded with social life and influenced by all aspects of social life.
To some extent, names can be regarded as a yardstick for the development of human society. From the social imprint of the name system, we can see the evolution of social development mode, social economic life, political life and cultural concept. This paper will analyze the influence of social development on people's names from two aspects: the social brand of people's group names and the social brand of individual names.
Group brand
In the course of human history, different nationalities have experienced primitive society, slave society and feudal society. Some similarities can be found from the social forms corresponding to the evolution of the name system of different nationalities.
In primitive society, human beings experienced two periods: matriarchal clan and paternal clan. At the beginning of human civilization, women have been chiefs in society for nearly ten thousand years, and this social form has left some traces in the name system. For example, most of the earliest surnames in China are from women, and even the definition of "surname" itself is "born in women". Such as Ji, Jiang, Gui, Si and so on. It shows that our ancestors experienced matriarchal society.
The foreign name system has undergone the same social changes as China's names. This is the case with the name Kikuyu mentioned at the beginning of this article. Morgan, a famous ethnologist, also said in his book "Ancient Society": "If you ask a Rusian name, he will answer his own name, his mother's name and the names of his female ancestors one by one." This also shows that Lv Xian people were in matrilineal clan society at that time (440 years ago).
In some ethnic groups with slow development in today's society, we can still see the transition from matriarchal to paternal from the structure of their names. For example, the Gaoshan, Lahu and other ethnic minorities in China also implement the mother-child joint name system, and the Benglong also put the mother's name before the father's name in the joint name, reflecting the social background that the mother's right is higher than the patriarchy. The Naxi people in Lugu Lake all live in their mother's family and use their mother's surname. The names of Mosuo people even appear to be named after female animals such as tigress, cow and hen. However, the Kemu people in Xishuangbanna, China, implemented the double-line joint name system, which included both their mother's name and their father's name, which also showed their historical footprints in the transition from matriarchal society to paternal society. However, in some ethnic groups, the collective name of mother and son has evolved into the collective name of father and son. Since the beginning of summer, Chinese characters from women have been rarely used, and even the phenomenon of changing the ancient surname from women to women has appeared, such as changing the surname of "Yi" to Ji, which is branded as a patriarchal society.
The names of ancient people are still influenced by economic development. For example, among the oldest names of Jingpo people in China, there are names that mean "planting taro" and "sorting out taro's moisture", which shows the economic form of Jingpo people at that time and the important position of taro in life. The earliest person who arrived in Nujiang River was called Guamubi, and "melon" means buckwheat. Its name also shows that people living in Nujiang at this time are an agricultural economic form that grows buckwheat for a living.
Back to the ancient history of China, from the names of Youchao, Suirenshi, Fuxi, Shennong and Ru Shou, it is not difficult to see the lifestyles of people who farm and breed. The names copied on bronzes, such as the father of bow, the father of dog, the father of tiger, Tintin, the father of turtle and the father of knife, Fang Ding, indicate that there has been a division of labor and cooperation economy, such as striking while the iron is hot, fishing and killing pigs.
From primitive society to slave society, the seal of hierarchy has left a deep mark on people's names. In the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties of the slave society in China, only slave owners and nobles had surnames, and slaves could never have surnames. The so-called "Jiande Emperor was born in the surname and was born in the ground". Only a few people who are reused have been named as an exception. For example, Fu Shuo, the minister of Wuding of Shang Dynasty, was a slave of all classes and had no surname. Because of Shang Zhouwang's reuse, he was given the surname Fu by the place name "Yan Fu", and he was originally a slave. In the slave society of ancient Greece and Rome, the names of people faced the same injustice: only slave owners had first names and surnames. It is said that the son of a great slave owner in ancient Greece is so stupid that he can't even remember the 24 letters of Greek. The slave owner had to use the pronunciation of these letters to name the 24 slaves in his family so that his silly son could remember them. Only in this way can these slaves have symbolic names.
The development of feudal society in China experienced thousands of years, and the name system also experienced ups and downs, which recorded the social changes of the feudal dynasty. Taboo in the Han nationality's name system has now become a powerful basis for archaeologists and historical materials to find their roots and ancestors, which is also a very obvious example of the political influence of names in feudal times.
Taboo began in the Qin Dynasty, but different times have different taboo contents, and emperors of the same dynasty also have different taboo words. "Bang" and "Luo" were taboo in the early Western Han Dynasty, while "Xiu" and "Zhuang" were taboo in the Eastern Han Dynasty. On the other hand, the taboo of princes' surnames provides good conditions for future generations to research. Taboo is a special point that names affect society.
Another special point is to give names and country names to dignitaries. Liu was the national surname of the Han Dynasty and Li was the national surname of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, the cultural connotation of surnames given by each generation is the same, but all surnames given are deeply branded with the times.
In feudal society, almost every dynasty and generation has a typical group name branded with the times.
During the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, the Five Dou Mi Dao rose and gradually became popular. As the symbol of Wudou rice knife, the word "Zhi" recorded the heyday of the knife at that time. At that time, the famous valve and gentry all took the word "Zi" as their name, and even the father and son criticized each other from generation to generation, and they did not shy away from naming names. For example, there is a new moon in Zu Chongzhi and a constant moon under it; Gu Kaizhi's pleasure, xian. Today's people can generally guess that the history of the name "Zhi" is the history of Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, which is really a typical society marked by names.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the rise and spread of religion can also be seen from the names of people. Looking through the historical tables of the north and south, the names of monks such as monks, true monks, fruit monks, King Kong, Lux, Maha, Brahma and Dharma monks can be seen everywhere, and the position of Buddhism in the society at that time will be clear to anyone with a discerning eye.
Tang Naisheng, singing and dancing, prospered the country and strengthened the people, and the relationship between ministers and grassroots people was very harmonious, which was also reflected in the name system at that time. One of the biggest characteristics of names in the Tang Dynasty is the consistency of names, and another characteristic is that they like to flaunt their rankings. Names are used to address themselves, and words are used to address friends with respect. If you have the same name, you won't be different from others in terms of address. It is normal for this form of self-restraint to appear in the relatively open Tang Dynasty, such as Guo Ziyi Ziyi, Ding Lizi Ding, Sima Lizhi, Gigi Lai and Meng Haoran. , blocking each other's way of polite respect, you are not easy to get along with.
The popularity of address forms in the Tang Dynasty is the second brand of names in social life. Open Du Fu's thatched cottage poems, and the titles on the poems are all words, such as Wei XVI, Fan XXXIII, Gao Sanwu, Li and so on. Tang poetry is relatively concentrated, and this title is the first feature. Seeing this feature, the number of Tang poems is close to ten. This habit is not only popular in poetry, but also in the ruling and opposition parties, inside and outside the boudoir. For example, Tang Gaozu called Pei Ji Pei Er, Ming Chengzu called Song Ji Wu Song, and Dezong called Lu Zhi Lu Jiu, which was the intimate behavior between the monarch and the minister during the Korean period. Eleven Niang of Xu, three Niang of Zhan, twelve Niang of Zhu and thirty-one Niang of Chen. , are gorgeous, for the harmony between boudoir. Today, when people read Tang Shi, they can see the harmonious atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty only by their names, and they can also find out the names of the princes of the Tang Dynasty at a glance by looking up their names, which is the mirror image of their names in social life.
It is a tradition in China to respect the aged and provide for the aged. Old people with lofty status were most respected in the Song Dynasty, so that people often boasted of the word "old" when naming their names. What about Zhao Xue, Li Shang, Xu Mozuo and Wang Ciweng? From one side, it reflects that Mencius' quotation "The Old Man and the Old Man" was thoroughly implemented in the Song Dynasty.
/kloc-in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, the iron gates of feudal society suddenly opened under the artillery bombardment of the Opium War. The invasion of western powers caused waves in China society. "Mr. De" and "Mr. Sai" came before the people of China and pointed out a new way out for the people of China in all aspects of cultural and social life. As a faithful mirror of society, names reflect the ups and downs of this history.
Around the May 4th Movement, names such as George, Mary appeared in various books and periodicals, and the penetration of Germany and Sai into people's hearts was also reflected in the names. Influenced by Huxley's theory of evolution, "natural selection makes the fittest survive", and Li, Mary, etc. Moreover, the structure with complete names, characters and numbers has also been thoroughly cleaned up. People no longer regard the name as the embodiment of blood relationship, but as a pure symbol, and it is not uncommon to change one's surname at will, with or without one's mother's surname. For example, some writers choose pen names instead of their original names, and after they become famous, they simply use pen names as their real names until they die. Like Cao Yu's original surname Wan, a famous treasure; Lu Xun's surname is Zhou, a famous tree person, etc. The taboo system that lasted for thousands of years has also been completely abolished. The attitude and way of treating venerable elders' names are also abnormal, and other things are often named after them. The most prominent ones are Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and Sun Yat-sen Suit. Almost every city can find "Zhongshan Avenue" or "Zhongshan Street". In addition, the phenomenon of unmarried people sharing the same surname has become an old habit and has been discarded. Many men and women with the same surname are married, and the couple fly together.
During this period, the names of Han people have undergone fundamental changes under the influence of foreign countries, which are manifested in two aspects. On the one hand, people envy the prosperity and development of the west and express their meaning in their names; On the other hand, in view of the corruption in the Qing court, people with lofty ideals also expressed their will to "make great efforts" in the names of Zhang Taiyan, Zhao, Hu, Yu Youren and Dai, all of which reflected their patriotism.
In foreign countries, every important political, religious and economic activity has also left a deep mark on people's names. Take the Jews as an example. Every wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism has left its mark on Jewish names. 1at the end of the 8th century1at the beginning of the 9th century, European countries launched an anti-Semitic wave, and the Jews who were homeless and sent to various places had to disobey a series of insulting orders made by their countries of residence to disturb the Thai people in choosing their names. For example, Jews in Hungary were forced to have only four surnames: white, black, big and small. "
The names "skinny monkey", "ox tail" and "donkey head" became the range they had to choose. During World War II, German Nazis even restricted Jews to use only 185 male names and 9 1 female names listed in the official list of Jewish names. Today, people do not look up history, but only look at the names of Jews, from which we can understand the tragic life of Jews at that time.
In Russia, the October Revolution produced a large number of revolutionary names that were contrary to traditional and religious names, such as Revmir, Malein, Piater Fuchet and so on. They gave birth to the significance of the world revolution, and Marx-Lenin completed the five-year plan in four years. These names were directly branded with the era of socialist revolution and construction, which spread all over the Soviet Union at that time.
1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) (PRC) was founded, and its name showed the changing track of this watershed. Among the names of the older generation today, there are many names with the words "Xi Shou, Prosperity and Richness", such as Master Qian, Zhang and Wang. But among citizens born after the founding of the Republic, this name has been greatly reduced. In the 40 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, people's names have changed with the ups and downs of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Great Leap Forward, the People's Commune and the Cultural Revolution. In many families with four generations living under one roof, people can recall the ups and downs of these forty years from their different names. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), people's names and figures often change with previous major political movements or social changes, with strong characteristics of the times, which are analyzed in several stages as follows:
1, early days of the People's Republic of China (1949- 1950): These two years are the starting point of the Republic after dawn. In the household registration file of Beijing Public Security Bureau, there are six citizens born in June 1949 10 1, and three of them are called "Jianguo". Zhang Jianguo, working in Beijing Railway Bureau; Wu Jianguo, working in Nanhu Canal Brick Factory; Another Zhang Jianguo works in China Academy of Sciences. One of the other three women is Wang Qinghua.
2. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1951-kloc-0/953): At this time, there were many people who fought to defend their country, resist US aggression and aid Korea, such as,, Deng and Yao.
3. Mid-1950s (1954- 1957): This period coincided with the period when the Republic concentrated on building the motherland, so many names such as Jianshe and Qiang Jian appeared, such as Gao Jianshe, Li Huzhu and Zhang Jianqiang.
4. Great Leap Forward era (1958- 1959): Satellite, leap forward, leap forward, Ying Chao is all over the city. Such as Meng Yuejin, Pan Shengtian, Dai Honghua, Wang, etc.
5. Three-year difficult period (1960- 1962): Ren, Du Gengsheng, Shen, Song Tuqiang, etc. , expressed the spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle.
Mid-1960s (1963- 1965): Comrade Mao Zedong called for "learning from Comrade Lei Feng", which was also reflected in the names of people. At this time, Gao and Ai Jingfeng are trying to learn from Lei Feng. Qian Zhinong and Dong Jiageng are the reappearance of the wave of returning to agriculture.
7. During the Cultural Revolution (1966- 1976): Ma was a famous table tennis player who was born during the Cultural Revolution. He was suggested to change his name, but he politely refused. He thought that the name of the Cultural Revolution was, after all, the imprint of a special era and the mirror image of a historical movement, so he kept the name Ma.
During the Cultural Revolution, countless people were named after a certain word. According to the statistics of China Language Reform Commission, the frequency of using the word "red" in naming became higher and higher after the founding of the People's Republic of China, from 0. 136% at the beginning of the People's Republic of China to 2. 15 1% during the Cultural Revolution. Lin brothers and sisters, formerly known as Sanzi Jing, were later renamed as,, and together. Together, the three names are "Dongfanghong". There is also a girl named Zheng, formerly known as Zheng. When studying the People's Liberation Army in the country, she changed her name to Zheng; Later, he entered the factory and changed his name to Zheng. Some people ridiculed her for constantly changing her name, saying, "She will change it when she gets married in the future-then change it to Zheng He's (just right)."
During the "Cultural Revolution", other names that reflected the characteristics of the times included Dong,,,, and Qi.
8. Ten Years in the New Period (1977- 1987): This is a decade of reform and opening up. With the economic development, cultural prosperity and ideological emancipation, people's names are also varied. Good and elegant names such as Qian, Jing, Yuan, Ying and Lei have mushroomed, and all kinds of single names are overwhelmed. Neutral names between men and women are also very popular, and foreign names such as Anna, Anne and Lisa are on the rise again.
9. Contemporary (1987 to present): With the deepening of reform and opening up, the level of cultural civilization has generally improved, and the naming methods have also become artistic and allegorical. Vulgar names such as flowers, happiness and wealth have been generally discarded, and politicized names with the characteristics of the times are also decreasing. I have a nephew who was born in the present age. My parents had a lot of trouble naming him. Later, I searched the literature and found a suitable name: Qian Kun. One shows that there is culture, and the two homonyms are Gan Kun, which is quite a man's demeanor.
Due to the full implementation of the family planning policy, a family often has only one child, so people have to be careful when naming names and try to avoid being similar to others, so all kinds of uncommon words are put forward again. It is said that many teachers often worry about difficult names.
During this period, the wind of worshipping foreign things and obsessing foreign things escalated, and various foreign names made the owner's worth a lot higher. Now many college students have foreign names, and many have two names, one is a foreign name and the other is a Chinese name at home. "My name is George Zhang abroad and George Zhang at home." Zhang Gongzi's soul is parasitic on some people's names again.
The social brand of name group carries the pop music of social change in the form of fans, while the social brand of personal name describes the personal behavior and ideological track in social change with its vivid and attractive stories.
B. Personal brand
As a member of society, an individual (that is, a single person) should conform to the code of conduct of the group on the one hand, and have his own unique social experience on the other hand, which is also reflected in naming and choosing words.
Names are often not given by individuals themselves, but by parents or others. Because I was still in infancy when I became famous, and I couldn't speak. How to name yourself? The youngest son of Xu Xiake, a great traveler in Ming Dynasty, was named after Xu's posthumous son. After Xu's death, his mother was forced to remarry a man named Li. After her posthumous son was born, she named it, which means that Xu's child was raised by the Li family. Li Jisheng was born in the late Ming Dynasty and grew up in the early Qing Dynasty. Later, he named himself "Li Jie", which has the double meaning of Xu and Li. Between Ming and Qing dynasties. 199 1 year, countless babies were rescued in the water, so the names of "aquatic" and "military students" often appear in newspapers, which is also a social and historical record.
It is precisely because individuals can't brand their own life trajectory when they are named, some people are ingenious and put their life experiences on the names of others (mainly future generations). In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Qiu, a modern poet and Japanese patriot, fought desperately with Yong Lian for 20 days and nights to resist the Japanese occupation of Taiwan Province Province, and finally failed. After returning to the mainland, my son was born. To commemorate this experience, he named him "Niantai". According to Xinmin Evening News (1989 65438+10.3), there are 14 unmarried youths in Wuming County, Guangxi, who are the common parents of an abandoned baby girl. They collectively contributed money and took turns to raise her, so that this nearly dead baby girl lived a very happy life. To commemorate this special experience, they jointly named the baby girl "Happy Life".
From social life to literary works, the relationship between the characters in the works and their social life experiences and personality characteristics is often expressed by writers in the names of the characters. In the novel "Dormitory for Female College Students", Kuang Basket, who grew up in a laundry list; Soak large sugar in sugar water; Qiu Li, who is climbing a high branch, vividly embodies the different life experiences of the characters. The names in A Dream of Red Mansions, such as "Yingchun", "Chun" (sigh), "Singer" (good at deceiving others), "Bo" (not a person) and "Jiao Xing", are all closely related to personal life experiences and actions.
Pen names are the best carrier to express experiences, and many writers' pen names are closely related to their life experiences. Lu Xun used 128 pen names in his life, and each pen name was closely related to his thoughts, environment and situation at that time. If someone attacks him as a remnant of feudalism, he has pseudonyms such as Feng Yu, Feng Yu and Feng Zhiyu. 1930 The Zhejiang Party Department of the Kuomintang wanted "Lu Xun, a fallen scholar", and he took pseudonyms such as "Degenerate Wen", "Tam" and "Lewen". The so-called tit-for-tat pen name of dealing with a man as he deals with you is a reflection of Lu Xun's social experience and personal character.
Writer Mao Dun, formerly known as Shen Dehong, formerly known as Yan Bing. 1927 after the failure of the first great revolution, he "experienced a deeper and broader life than before, seeing not only the contradiction between revolution and counter-revolution, but also the contradiction within the revolutionary lineup, especially the contradiction of petty-bourgeois intellectuals in this era of great change, and can't help but see the huge contradiction in his life and thoughts." In this contradictory experience, he took "contradiction" as his pen name, and later changed his name to "Mao Dun" at the suggestion of Ye Shengtao, so as to be more like a real name.
The writer Ai Wu's pen name "Liu Ming" in 1930s is a homonym for "refugee". The name "Liu Ming" sums up his bitter life experiences in exile from Sichuan to Yunnan, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore when he was young. Ai Wu had a "sympathetic brother" in the Soviet Union, namely Gorky. Gorky's parents died young. 1 1 years old went to the society to make a living and worked as an apprentice, janitor, forger, night watchman, docker, etc. Later, he began to publish novels with Gorky as his pen name, which means "pain". This pen name is a true portrayal of his hard life experience.
Pen names are an important position for literati to describe their personal life experiences. After the Qing Dynasty entered Guizhou, it was nicknamed "Emei old woman was completely repaired". Why does this figure who was drunk under the famous prostitute Liu pomegranate skirt call herself Lao Na and want to remember her heart thoroughly? It turned out that when the country changed, in order to preserve his honor, he should have died in battle and martyrdom, but he never gave up gentleness for the rest of his life. He had to hide in the air-raid shelter of his heart and repent thoroughly. As his poem "A sick tree is too weak to bear a snake in its stomach, and wild flowers only rely on grass as their heart" says, the contradictory heart has to be vented on another name.
Zeng Guofan's quest for Quezhai master in his later years is quite different from his ambition to be a national barrier in his prime. Historical research shows that most famous people since ancient times are famous and enterprising. In his later years, his career was successful and his temperament turned dull. When he established his title, he was detached and retired by mountains and rivers. The higher the status, the more secluded the atmosphere, and the more humble it is to people. As Kauff said; "One life is listless, another life is a bend, and three lives are a trend." Zeng Guofan is a very important official, named Qiu Jue, precisely because of this psychology. From the development of names to numbers, we can see the psychological reaction caused by celebrities' social experiences.
After the Opium War, the invasion of foreign enemies triggered civil strife, and the Chinese nation faced a serious crisis. Many literati nicknames are endowed with strong patriotism and enterprising spirit, which is an example of personal nicknames violating social habits. Such as the heroic Zou Rong, a pawn in the revolutionary army, Qiu Jin, a woman who built a lake, Zhou Shuren, a scholar from Ma Rong and Shen Yanbing, all these nicknames are closely related to their social environment.
In addition to naming and names, people's renaming and changing words are often in line with the background of the times and the trajectory of personal behavior. Random talk about renaming will involve that there is no suspicion of duplication here.