Courtesy name

A courtesy name () is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particularly in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. Courtesy names are a marker of adulthood and were historically given to men at the age of 20, and sometimes to women upon marriage.

Unlike art names, which are more akin to pseudonyms or pen names, courtesy names served a formal and respectful purpose. Thus, the given name was reserved for oneself and one's elders, whereas the courtesy name would be used by adults of the same generation to refer to one another on formal occasions or in writing. Another translation of zi occasionally encountered is the "style name", but this translation has been criticised as misleading since it could imply an official or legal title

Generally speaking, courtesy names before the Qin dynasty were one syllable, and from the Qin to the 20th century they were mostly disyllabic, consisting of two Chinese characters.

Another way to form a courtesy name is to use the homophonic character zi () – a respectful title for a man – as the first character of the disyllabic courtesy name. Thus, for example, Gongsun Qiao's courtesy name was Zichan (), and Du Fu's was Zimei (). It was also common to construct a courtesy name by using as the first character one which expresses the bearer's birth order among male siblings in his family. Thus Confucius, whose name was Kong Qiu (), was given the courtesy name Zhongni (), where the first character zhong indicates that he was the second son born into his family. The characters commonly used are bo () for the first, zhong () for the second, shu () for the third, and ji () typically for the youngest, if the family consists of more than three sons. General Sun Jian's four sons, for instance, were Sun Ce (, Bófú), Sun Quan (, Zhòngmóu), Sun Yi (, Shūbì) and Sun Kuang (, Jìzuǒ).

Reflecting a general cultural tendency to regard names as significant, the choice of what name to bestow upon one's children was considered very important in traditional China. Yan Zhitui of the Northern Qi dynasty asserted that whereas the purpose of a given name was to distinguish one person from another, a courtesy name should express the bearer's moral integrity.

Prior to the twentieth century, sinicized Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese were also referred to by their courtesy name. The practice was also adopted by some Mongols and Manchus after the Qing conquest of China.

Examples

{| class="wikitable"

! Chinese !! Family name !! Given name !! Courtesy name

| Lǎozǐ || Lǐ || Ěr || Bóyáng

| Kǒngzǐ (Confucius) || Kǒng || Qiū || Zhòngní

| Sūnzǐ (Sun Tzu) || Sūn || Wǔ || Chángqīng

| Cáo Cāo || Cáo || Cāo || Mèngdé

| Sūn Quán || Sūn || Quán || Zhòngmóu

| Guān Yǔ || Guān || Yǔ || Yúncháng

| Liú Bèi || Liú || Bèi || Xuándé

| Zhūgé Liàng || Zhūgé || Liàng || Kǒngmíng

| Zhào Yún || Zhào || Yún || Zǐlóng

| Lǐ Bái || Lǐ || Bái || Tàibái

| Sū Dōngpō || Sū || Shì || Zǐzhān

| Bāo Zhěng || Bāo || Zhěng || Xīrén

| Yuè Fēi || Yuè || Fēi || Péngjǔ

| Yuán Chónghuàn || Yuán || Chónghuàn || Yuánsù

| Liú Jī || Liú || Jī || Bówēn

| Táng Yín || Táng || Yín || Bóhǔ

| Sūn Zhōngshān (Sun Yat-sen) || Sūn || Démíng || Zàizhī

| Jiǎng Jièshí (Chiang Kai-shek) || Jiǎng || Zhōutài || Jièshí

| Máo Zédōng ||Máo || Zédōng || Rùnzhī

|I Sunsin 李舜臣 || I 李 ||Sunsin 舜臣 || Yeohae 汝諧

|Lý Thường Kiệt 李常傑 || Lý 李 ||Tuấn 俊 || Thường Kiệt 常傑

Examples

See also

References