Gift of Life-Naming Ceremony

? After the baby is born, we should give him a name. According to the Book of Rites, there was a certain ceremony of naming children in the pre-Qin period. The time is usually set on an auspicious day three months after the child is born. The father held the child's right hand in one hand and the child's chin in the other, and named the child seriously. After naming, on the one hand, the female teacher told the women in the clan the child's name, on the other hand, the father told the relevant officials the child's name and reported it to the men in the clan step by step, which was recorded in the document, a bit like the "registration" of later generations.

? In traditional society, a person's name is also a very complicated etiquette norm. "Book of Rites on Tan Gong" says: "Young name, crown word, 50 equal, death, Zhou Dao also." This means that people in the Zhou Dynasty generally have four names. "Zuo Zhuan Huan Gong Er Nian" records that Jin Muhou's wife Jiang gave birth to two sons, with a strange name. Some people commented that it is impolite to choose such a name, and the country will fall into chaos. It can be seen that choosing a name is very cautious. Generally speaking, people in traditional society have three names: nickname, big name and Chinese characters. Literati often have a number, and some people have posthumous title after their death.

? Nickname, also known as birth name. It can be named during the Three Dynasties, Full Moon and Hundred Days. It is necessary to write the baby's name on red paper and stick it on the side of the land temple, and write the words "named Daji" and "long life and wealth". Generally, elders or prestigious people should be invited to pick them up, and fortune tellers should be invited to arrange them on their birthdays. If children think that the five elements are missing, they should add something to their names. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, there is a ceremony of taking the baby's name on the basket scale, adding some mascots to the baby and weighing it in the basket, that is, taking the weight as the baby's name. The names of "seven pounds" and "nine pounds" seen in Lu Xun's novels came from this. Generally, birth names place the expectations of family members, or express good luck and pray for the smooth growth of children; Some people take a cheap name, such as dog eggs and dog leftovers, with a spelling meaning, thinking that children are easy to raise.

? Names, also called proper names and scientific names, are usually given by teachers when children enter school.

? Characters are the explanation and supplement of names, also called ideographs. In the Book of Rites Quli, it is said: "Men of twenty are crowned by words" and "Women are allowed to marry, but full of words". It can be seen that the Zhou Dynasty only chose words for young men and women at the rite of passage.

? The Book of Rites points out that the naming ceremony of the monarch can be divided into: choosing a date, having a haircut, seeing a son, naming a name, answering questions, announcing a name, and naming a book.