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Naming Taboo in Ancient China
It was considered taboo to speak of the given names of emperors and their direct ancestors, one's own ancestors, and respected people like Confucius. To avoid offence, one may change the character to a similar character, leave the character blank or omit the final stroke in the character.
For example, the Chinese moon goddess Chang-Er was originally called Heng e (恒娥). However, as the Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty was called Liu Heng, her name was changed to avoid the naming taboo.
Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty was named Zhao Gou 趙構. As Gou has the same sound as the Chinese character 狗 (which means dog), people are forced to use the synonym 犬 to replace the character 狗 in speech or text.
The naming taboo of the state (taboo against given names of emperors and their direct ancestors) could be a life and death matter in ancient China. In 1777, Wang Xihou, wrote the Qianlong Emperor's name without leaving out any stroke in his dictionary as required. This resulted in his and his family's executions and confiscation of their property. Imperial exam students must remember the naming taboo of the state so as not to give offense and ruin their life.
As the taboo was so strict, historical people and locations could be renamed if they happened to share a name with the emperor in power (or previous emperors of the same dynasty) when the text was written. Thus, the study of naming taboos could date an ancient Chinese text.
The taboo to speak of the given name of one's own ancestors was called the naming taboo of the clan. In Jin Dynasty, when Wang Chen visited Huan Xuan, he asked the servants to warm up the wine 温酒 (pin yin: wen jiu).
However, Huan Xuan's father was called Huan Wen 桓温 so Wang Chen accidentally broke the naming taboo of Huan Xuan's clan.Huan Xuan immediately cried loudly as required by the custom.
Wang Chen panicked and wanted to leave, but Huan Xuan said, "It the naming taboo of my clan, so it isn't your fault." Wang Chen praised his open-mindedness . In general, it was gravely offensive to deliberately speak of given names of your conversational partners' direct ancestors.
The naming taboo of the clan could be career ruining. In Tang Dynasty, poet Li He attempted to take the Imperial Examination. However, his jealous rivals tried to disqualify him because his father was named Jinsu 晉肅 , and the first character was a homonym of the first character (進) of Jinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed.
Poet Han Yu wrote 諱辯 "The Argument Against Naming Taboo" to defend him, but at the end Li He wasn't successful in the Imperial Examination (some said he didn't take it at the end because of the pressure)
The naming taboo is the origin of the famous Chinese idiom "只許州官放火，不許百姓點燈" (lit. "to only allow the prefectural official to set fires, but not allow the common citizens to light their lamps).
In Song Dynasty, an prefectural governor called Tian Deng forbade any mention of lamps, because the character for lamp was a homonym of his given name. Therefore people of the prefecture referred "lanterns" as "fire". One year during the Lantern Festival, the prefectural officials published a notice saying that they would "set fire" (set up lanterns) for 3 days according to tradition. Nowadays this idiom meant "the authorities can do what they like, but the common people are not allowed the slightest bit of freedom".
For example, the Chinese moon goddess Chang-Er was originally called Heng e (恒娥). However, as the Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty was called Liu Heng, her name was changed to avoid the naming taboo.
Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty was named Zhao Gou 趙構. As Gou has the same sound as the Chinese character 狗 (which means dog), people are forced to use the synonym 犬 to replace the character 狗 in speech or text.
The naming taboo of the state (taboo against given names of emperors and their direct ancestors) could be a life and death matter in ancient China. In 1777, Wang Xihou, wrote the Qianlong Emperor's name without leaving out any stroke in his dictionary as required. This resulted in his and his family's executions and confiscation of their property. Imperial exam students must remember the naming taboo of the state so as not to give offense and ruin their life.
As the taboo was so strict, historical people and locations could be renamed if they happened to share a name with the emperor in power (or previous emperors of the same dynasty) when the text was written. Thus, the study of naming taboos could date an ancient Chinese text.
The taboo to speak of the given name of one's own ancestors was called the naming taboo of the clan. In Jin Dynasty, when Wang Chen visited Huan Xuan, he asked the servants to warm up the wine 温酒 (pin yin: wen jiu).
However, Huan Xuan's father was called Huan Wen 桓温 so Wang Chen accidentally broke the naming taboo of Huan Xuan's clan.Huan Xuan immediately cried loudly as required by the custom.
Wang Chen panicked and wanted to leave, but Huan Xuan said, "It the naming taboo of my clan, so it isn't your fault." Wang Chen praised his open-mindedness . In general, it was gravely offensive to deliberately speak of given names of your conversational partners' direct ancestors.
The naming taboo of the clan could be career ruining. In Tang Dynasty, poet Li He attempted to take the Imperial Examination. However, his jealous rivals tried to disqualify him because his father was named Jinsu 晉肅 , and the first character was a homonym of the first character (進) of Jinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed.
Poet Han Yu wrote 諱辯 "The Argument Against Naming Taboo" to defend him, but at the end Li He wasn't successful in the Imperial Examination (some said he didn't take it at the end because of the pressure)
The naming taboo is the origin of the famous Chinese idiom "只許州官放火，不許百姓點燈" (lit. "to only allow the prefectural official to set fires, but not allow the common citizens to light their lamps).
In Song Dynasty, an prefectural governor called Tian Deng forbade any mention of lamps, because the character for lamp was a homonym of his given name. Therefore people of the prefecture referred "lanterns" as "fire". One year during the Lantern Festival, the prefectural officials published a notice saying that they would "set fire" (set up lanterns) for 3 days according to tradition. Nowadays this idiom meant "the authorities can do what they like, but the common people are not allowed the slightest bit of freedom".