Since ancient times, the Chinese have paid high respect to their own full names. A popular saying goes: “While sitting on the seat (or staying at the homeland), one never changes one’s surname; while walking on the road (or traveling abroad), one never changes one’s given name.” To the Chinese, a kind of sacredness lies so definitely in everyone’s name. The surname signifies the continuity of his lineage,whereas the personal name ming signifies blessings bestowed by the parents. A model gentleman of
Chinese gentry, jun zi, means a person who conscientiously devotes himself to a virtuous and candid life so as symbolically not only to keep his name from being detained but also to glorify his parents as well
as the lineage ancestors.To our surprise, however, the Chinese of traditional elite gentry would adopt, in addition, a courtesy name, zi, at the age of twenty. To avoid deviating from the sense of filial piety, the meaning of this courtesy name must evoke a response to that of the primary personal name. The present paper will thus focus on the strategic naming of zi as ingenious responses to ming, which discloses the most astonishingly wonderful wisdom in the art of Chinese naming. In the first place, we must understand that the need of zi cannot be separated from the address etiquette with which the Chinese of traditional hierarchical society were greatly concerned. As a member of mature elites, one needed to address each other by zi to show a gesture of courtesy. In contrast, one was obliged to address himself by ming as an attitude of humility.
Without this naming tradition of ming and zi nowadays, we have abandoned altogether the traditional socialization of etiquette. This lamentable fact, I believe, gives rise to the present-day somewhat chaotic social phenomena, whether among the adults or among the adolescents.This paper is aimed to call attention to the significance embodied in the cultural heritage of naming zi as a response to ming. Through historical evidence, I will investigate how ming and zi are composed both by certain conventional rules and by their mutual syntactical logics. Surely I will not ignore the way how ming and zi are respectively used in daily life with certain restrained taboos. At last, I will give some marvelous examples to show how this art of naming zi is achieved as tactful responses to ming. This paper will end up with an urgent expectation that by reviving this age-old tradition of naming zi as a courtesy address of ming, we may create a harmonious society in which people are capably alert to respect each other.