Naming Taboo
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A naming taboo is a cultural
taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and within the
Chinese cultural sphere The East Asian cultural sphere, also known as the Sinosphere, the Sinic world, the Sinitic world, the Chinese cultural sphere, the Chinese character sphere encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically ...
. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly religious origins predate the
Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...
. Not respecting the appropriate naming taboos was considered a sign of lacking education and respect, and brought shame both to the offender and the offended person.


Types

* The ''naming taboo of the state'' ( ''guóhuì'') discouraged the use of the emperor's given name and those of his ancestors. For example, during the
Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...
,
Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
's given name Zhèng (< B-S: *''teŋ-s'') was avoided, and the first month of the year, the ''upright month'' (; ''Zhèngyuè'') had its pronunciation modified to ''Zhēngyuè'' (OC B-S: *''teŋ'', like "to go on a long journey, to go on a military campaign") and then further renamed as the ''proper/upright month'' (; ''Duānyuè'' < OC, B-S *''tˤor'']). The strength of this taboo was reinforced by law; transgressors could expect serious punishment for writing an emperor's name without modifications. In 1777,
Wang Xihou Wang Xihou (; 1713–1777), courtesy name Hanbo (), was a Chinese scholar from Xinchang County (modern-day Yifeng County, Jiangxi) who lived during the Qing dynasty. He was executed under the Qing government's literary inquisition policies durin ...
, in his dictionary, criticized the
Kangxi dictionary The ''Kangxi Dictionary'' ( (Compendium of standard characters from the Kangxi period), published in 1716, was the most authoritative dictionary of Chinese characters from the 18th century through the early 20th. The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing ...
and wrote the Qianlong Emperor's name without leaving out any stroke as required. This disrespect resulted in his and his family's executions and confiscation of their property. This type of naming taboo is no longer observed in modern China. * The ''naming taboo of the clan'' () discouraged the use of the names of one's own ancestors. Generally, ancestor names going back to seven generations were avoided. In diplomatic documents and letters between clans, each clan's naming taboos were observed. * The ''naming taboo of the holinesses'' () discouraged the use of the names of respected people. For example, writing the name of
Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
was taboo during the Jin Dynasty.


Methods to avoid offense

There were three ways to avoid using a taboo character: * Changing the character to another, usually a
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
or one which sounded similar to the character being avoided. For example, the Black Warrior Gate (; Xuanwu Gate) of the
Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...
was renamed the
Gate of Divine Might The Gate of Divine Might or Gate of Divine Prowess (, Manchu: ''šen u men'') is the northern gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. History The gate was built in 1420, during the 18th year of Yongle Emperor's reign. The Gate was origin ...
(神武門; Shenwu Gate) in order to avoid using a character from the
Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...
's name, Xuanye (). * Leaving the character as a blank. * Omitting a stroke in the character, usually the final stroke.


In history

Throughout Chinese history, there were emperors whose names contained common characters who would try to alleviate the burden of the populace in practicing name avoidance. For example,
Emperor Xuan of Han Emperor Xuan of Han (Liu Xun 劉詢, né Liu Bingyi 劉病已; born 91 BC – 10 January 48 BC) was the tenth emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty, reigning from 74 to 48 BC, and was one of the only four Western Han emperors to receive a temple na ...
, whose given name Bingyi (病已) contained two very common characters, changed his name to Xun (詢), a far less common character, with the stated purpose of making it easier for his people to avoid using his name. Similarly,
Emperor Taizong of Tang Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty ...
, whose given name Shimin (世民) also contained two very common characters, ordered that name avoidance only required the avoidance of the characters ''Shi'' and ''Min'' in direct succession and that it did not require the avoidance of those characters in isolation. However, Emperor Taizong's son
Emperor Gaozong of Tang Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi, was the third emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife Empress Wu (the f ...
effectively made this edict ineffective after his death, by requiring the complete avoidance of the characters ''Shi'' and ''Min'', necessitating the chancellor
Li Shiji Li Shiji (594?The ''Old Book of Tang'' indicated that Li Shiji was 75 at the time of his death, while the ''New Book of Tang'' indicated that Li Shiji was 85 at the time of his death. Compare ''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 67 with ''New Book of Tang ...
to change his name to Li Ji. In later dynasties, princes were frequently given names that contained uncommon characters to make it easier for the public to avoid them, should they become emperor later in life. During the rule of the
Ming Emperor of Han Emperor Ming of Han (15June 28 – 5September 75), born and also known as and as , was the second emperor of China's Eastern Han dynasty. He was the fourth son and second crown prince of Emperor Guangwu. It was during Emperor Ming's reign ...
(Liu Zhuang), whose personal name was Zhuang, most people with surname Zhuang (莊) were ordered to change their names to its synonym
Yan Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed indepe ...
(). The custom of naming taboo had a built-in contradiction: without knowing what the emperors' names were, one could hardly be expected to avoid them, thus somehow the emperors' names had to be informally transmitted to the populace to allow them to take cognizance of and thus avoid using said characters. In one famous incident in 435, during the
Northern Wei Dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535 during t ...
,
Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...
ambassadors made a formal request that the imperial government issue them a document containing the emperors' names so that they could avoid offending the emperor while submitting their king's petition.
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei ((北)魏太武帝, 408 – 11 March 452), personal name Tuoba Tao (拓拔燾), Xianbei name Büri(佛貍),佛貍 should actually be pronounced Büri, and meant "wolf" in the Xianbei language, 罗新:《北魏太武 ...
agreed and issued them such a document.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 122. However, the mechanism of how the regular populace would be able to learn the emperors' names remained generally unclear throughout Chinese history. This taboo is important to keep in mind when studying ancient historical texts from the cultural sphere, as historical characters and/or locations may be renamed if they happen 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 can also help date an ancient text.


In other countries

Japan was also influenced by the naming taboo. In modern Japan, it concerns only the
Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...
, whom people only refer to as Tennō Heika (; his Majesty the Emperor) or Kinjō Heika (; his current Majesty). Historically, it was considered very rude to call someone else's real name, even if it was the lord calling his vassals. Calling someone else's real name was equivalent to picking a fight. Titles or pseudonyms were often used when calling others in place of their real names. However, this does not apply to the
Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
in written names. In Vietnam, the family name
Hoàng Huang (; ) is a Chinese surname that originally means and refers to jade people were wearing and decorating in ancient times. While ''Huáng'' is the pinyin romanization of the word, it may also be romanized as Hwang (Korean surname), Hwang, Wong ...
(黃) was changed to Huỳnh in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
due to the naming taboo of Lord
Nguyễn Hoàng Nguyễn Hoàng (28 August 1525 – 20 July 1613) was the first of the Nguyễn lords who ruled the southern provinces of Vietnam between 1558 and 1613, from a series of cities: Ai Tu (1558–70), Tra Bat (1570–1600), and Dinh Cat (modern-day H ...
's name. Similarly, the family name "
Vũ or Võ ( 武 or rarely 禹) is a common Vietnamese surname. Vũ is primarily used by Vietnamese who live in the north, while Võ mostly is used by Vietnamese who live in the south (from Quảng Bình Province to the south). The latinized v ...
" (武) is known as "Võ" in the South.


See also

*
Imperial examination in Chinese mythology The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best potential candidates to serve as administrative officials, for the purpose of recruiting them for the state's bureaucracy. With the avo ...
, example *
Names of God in Judaism Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: YHWH, Adonai, El ("God"), Elohim ("God," a plural noun), Shaddai ("Almighty"), and Tzevaot (" fHosts"); some also include Ehyeh ("I Will Be").This is th ...
, similar taboo * Taboo against naming the dead, similar taboo in many cultures


References


Further reading

*陳垣
hen Yuan Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringe ...
《史諱舉例》 xamples of Taboos in History- the pioneering work in the field, written during the early 20th century, numerous editions {{Authority control Chinese culture Naming Taboo East Asian traditions