Alternative Names
See also: Naming taboo, Taboo on rulers, and Table of Chinese monarchsFrom their earliest recorded history, the Chinese observed a number of naming taboos, avoiding the names of their elders, ancestors, and rulers out of respect and fear. As a result, the upper classes of traditional Chinese culture typically employed a variety of names over the course of their lives, and the emperors and sanctified deceased had still others.
Current naming practices are more straightforward and consistent, but a few pseudonyms or alternate names remain common.
When discussing Chinese writers, Chinese and Japanese scholars do not consistently use particular names, whether they are private names or alternative names.
- Current
Read more about this topic: Chinese Name
Famous quotes containing the words alternative and/or names:
“A mental disease has swept the planet: banalization.... Presented with the alternative of love or a garbage disposal unit, young people of all countries have chosen the garbage disposal unit.”
—Ivan Chtcheglov (b. 1934)
“I have known a German Prince with more titles than subjects, and a Spanish nobleman with more names than shirts.”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774)