Genealogy is used to arrange generations. Is it okay if we recycle the words used in the genealogy? Is it called generation if we recycle it once?

According to Chinese custom, the character generation will not be recycled.

In ancient times, taboos were avoided. That is, the names of monarchs and elders must be avoided from being spoken or written directly. Among them, taboos that are avoided within the family are called family taboos. You cannot speak or write the name of your father and grandfather directly, but must use other words instead. It will also be considered rude to speak the name of your father and grandfather in front of others. Not to mention using the Chinese character of the ancestor’s name to name the descendants.

The character generation is generally used as the first character of a name. For example, if the surname of Zhang is Liang, the name of a peer would be Zhang Liang X. The characters for X vary. If

the generation names are repeated, it actually means that the descendants have the same name as the ancestors. In the past, this was considered to be treasonous. This is completely different from some foreign areas. Abroad, it is considered to be respectful to share the same name with one's ancestors, and to distinguish them later by the first and second generations; in China, doing so is considered disrespectful to the ancestors.

Of course, modern taboos have been downplayed, and there is no need to avoid or replace the names of elders, but people still habitually avoid the names of juniors and seniors. At present, there may not be any family trees with cyclic generation characters. Even in the same family tree, it is impossible for different generations to use the same generation character. Of course, this is just a custom. If the generation characters must be recycled, no one will interfere.

There are ten or dozens of generation characters determined by the ancestors. After they are used up, they will be replaced by the clan. Fortunately, there are many auspicious characters in Chinese and they are inexhaustible. Except for the use of seniority characters in the Confucius family, which must be approved by the government, other surnames can be freely used.