What did Zi mean in ancient times? (e.g. Zhang, Fei, Yi De)

The sanitary conditions in ancient times were not good, so it was not until the ancients confirmed that the child was still alive three months after birth that the father officially took the name. "Name" is used by the elders at home when they are young, and "birth name" is the abbreviation of "name", usually for convenience or intimacy. When an adult enters the society, he has to have another name. This "name" is what we call "word", which is used by peers and younger generations. Generally speaking, honorifics, honorifics, and inferiority to elders should be called "words"; Those who call themselves, those who respect their elders with humility, and those who are inferior should call themselves by their "names"; Between peers, except friends who are familiar with each other, you can informally address each other by their first names. Otherwise, it is impolite. After the Republic of China, because "Ming" and "Zi" respectively represent the appellation of a person in different growth periods, with the changes of the times, there is no obvious difference between "Ming" in society, so "Ming" is called together.

"Word" usually comes from "name", so no matter what the teacher gives or what the teacher wants, the word is often related to the name. Generally speaking, there are four most common relationships between names and words:

First, synonymous with each other. This means that names and words have the same meaning or can explain each other. For example, Zhuge Liang's word is Kongming, and this "bright" and "bright" are of course synonyms. By analogy, Confucius' student Zaiyu's word "Ziwo" and Ban Gu's word "Meng Jian" all have the same meaning.

Second, antonyms are relative. This means that the meaning of the name and the meaning of the word are opposite. I hope people will not go too far, go too far, and take the meaning of checks and balances. For example, Han Yu's word "retreat" and Zhu's word ""all require people to keep in mind the pros and cons and keep a balance between advance and retreat.

Third, related associations. Some "names" and "characters" are not necessarily the same or the opposite, but have a causal relationship or a subordinate relationship. For example, Bai Juyi's word "Lotte" means to take "Lotte" and "Juyi"; Su Shi's word "Zi Zhan" means looking forward by leaning on a stone (stone is a crossbar used to make handrails in front of ancient carriages).

Fourth, the original name changed. This is simply a simple change to the original masterpiece, and this change is irregular. For example, the word "Taibai" written by Li Bai, the word "Mu Zhi" written by Du Mu and the word "Huiji" written by Qin Gui are all formed by adding a empty word or a variant.

In addition to appellation, names and characters can also indicate kinship. The most common form is to use the word * * * in a name or text to express equivalence. Now, most brothers and sisters use this form; If it is a single word, use the same radical, such as Su Shi and Su Zhe. In addition, names can also show the level of seniority. In the pre-Qin period, Meng (Bo, Chang), Zhong, Shu and Ji were generally added before people's names. For example, two brothers, Boyi and Shu Qi, and Kong Qiu's word Zhong Ni, etc. In the Tang dynasty, they were all represented by numbers, and they were called the first line. For example, the word "Toure" in Gao Shi's "Send a Day" refers to Du Fu, and the word "Yuan Jiu" in Bai Juyi's "Nine Books of the Imperial Garden" refers to Yuan Zhen. , are through the name to express the order of young and old.