The names of the Naxi girls in "Mufu Fengyun" are Ayuela, Aleqiu, Ashiyu and Azhao. They are all very nice. What do they mean?
A Shiyu, the daughter of the local magistrate of Ningzhou, the grand-niece of Luo Shining, her official name is Lu Shifan. Historically, she was the wife of chieftain Mu Zeng. She had no rank and had a son named Mu Yi. She may be the prototype of Aleqiu, a synonym for shrewd and capable women in Naxi legends. Every generation of chieftain wife in Mufu is called "Ashi", so Ashiyu may not be her name, but a title, as mentioned above, Aleqiu and Ashiyu may be the same person.
Names of the Naxi people
In ancient times, the Naxi people had no surnames, only family names. The earliest family names were named after clan names or clan totems. Rulamu (tigress), Ran (leopard), Paosi (fox), Yimi (cow), Ciruo (goat cub), Youmi (female sheep), Yami (hen), Sha (hemp) ), Ninan (ebony tree) and other family names are inherited from the ancient matriarchal clan names or clan totem names. Later, as the role of the clan declined and the role of the family increased, some families took the name of a certain female ancestor or male ancestor as their family name. With the formation of the Naxi class society, the disappearance of clan organizations and the loosening of family organizations, the role of the family gradually increased. As a result, some families gradually abandoned their clan or family names and randomly chose a family name for themselves. For example, some are named after their place of residence, some are named after their positions, some are named after the character traits of family members, etc. Various family names appeared one after another.
The family names of the Naxi people are similar to the surnames of the Han people, but they are not equal to the Han surnames. Han surnames remain unchanged from generation to generation, while family names of the Naxi people can be changed. The change from family name to surname seems to have started with feudal chieftains. According to historical records, in the Ming Dynasty, the chieftain of the Naxi ethnic group in Lijiang accepted the official title and surname granted by the central dynasty, and changed his surname to Mu. However, among the people, the Naxi people in Lijiang all have the surname He; while the Naxi people in Yongning, Langyuan, Yanyuan Zuosuo and other places still only have family names and no surnames. Later, Han culture spread widely in Lijiang, and a large number of Han military and civilian settlers and merchants merged with the Naxi people. As a result, in addition to the two major surnames of He and Mu, the Naxi people in Lijiang also had some other surnames.
For the Naxi people in the Lugu Lake area, with the transition from matrilineal families to patrilineal families, family names also began to evolve into surnames. Later, under the influence of the Han people, it was gradually changed to a surname. After 1949, some Naxi people in the central area of Lugu Lake changed their family names one after another, and surnames such as Guo, Yang, Cao, Zhu, Zhang, Qin, Wang, Shi, and Fu appeared.
The Naxi people developed from having no surname to being named by the wizard Dongba or Daba. Later, Lamaism was introduced into the Naxi area, and lamas also gained the right to name babies. After the child is born, the Daba or Lama calculates which direction in the Bagua the baby will come from based on the mother's age, zodiac sign, and the year, month, day, and hour of the child's birth, and hangs the name of the god or Buddha that is consistent with the child's direction. The last one or two words are used to name the child, hoping to get blessings from gods and Buddhas. Judging from the records of the Dongba Sutra, the Naxi people in Lijiang area used to practice the joint naming system of mother and daughter and joint naming of father and son in ancient times. Later, under the influence of the Han people, they changed to arranging generations according to the family tree, and the elders chose the names for their descendants. Parents give their children a nickname, and when they go to school, they give a scientific name and it becomes a formal name. However, on the morning or the day before marrying his wife, a man needs to ask his male companion or elders to choose another business name as a sign of starting a family and starting a business. From then on, peers used font sizes to match each other. Judging from the names they chose, it seems that they were greatly influenced by the Han people.