When someone asks your name, what should you answer?

Nowadays, people usually talk about the most basic point at the beginning, that is, the surname of others. In society, men are called gentlemen and women are called ladies. Then write your last names. For example, if you are a female surname, the other party will politely call you "Miss Fang", which was "Miss Fang" in ancient times. Therefore, whether it is ancient or modern, the first sentence before two people often get to know each other is "May I have your name, please?" The other party will generally answer that the first two words are "free". What exactly do you mean by "your last name" and "free"? Why is it related to personal surnames?

To say that China is, after all, one of the four ancient civilizations, this seemingly simple question and answer can be traced back to the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties three thousand years ago. Today, surnames have gradually evolved. Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties are a stage, and it is also another big stage after the Qin Dynasty. The development of surnames has changed in each stage, and its rules have also changed. Before the Qin Dynasty, people had surnames and surnames, which respectively represented different meanings. The surname is the representative of the root, that is, to distinguish the ancestors. The role of surnames is mainly used by the younger generation, that is to say, surnames are passed down from generation to generation, and surnames are equivalent to a branch that is slowly diverted.

In A Brief History of Clans, it is clearly recorded that "noble people have surnames, while lowly people have no surnames", and "anonymous names" is a general term for people with low social status in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, because not everyone has surnames, and ordinary people only have a convenient code name. There were similar regulations in the Yuan Dynasty, when ordinary people only had surnames and first names. In Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, only dignitaries had surnames, such as Xiongtong in Chu Wuwang in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. His last name is Mi Xiong Xiong. Later, he went to live in Quyi, his fief, and his descendants took Qu as their surname. Qu Xian and Qu Yuan are both descendants of the Mi surname. Men are called by their first names, while women are called by their first names.