A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name (zì), is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect. Primarily used for male names, one could be given a zì by the parents, or by their first personal teacher on the first day of family school, or one may adopt a self-chosen zì. The tradition of using style names has been fading since the May Fourth Movement in 1919. There are two common forms of style name, the zì and the hào.
The zì is mostly disyllabic (comprises two characters) and is usually based on the meaning of the míng or given name. Yan Zhitui (顏之推) of the Northern Qi Dynasty believed that while the purpose of the míng was to distinguish one person from another, the zì should express the bearer's moral integrity.
The relation which often exists between a person's zì and his míng can be seen in the case of Mao Zedong (), whose zì was Rùnzhī (). These two characters share the same radical - 氵, which signifies water. Both characters can mean "to benefit" or "to nourish".
Another way to form a zì is to use the homophonic character zǐ () - a respectful title for a male - as the first character of the disyllabic zì. Thus, for example, Gongsun Qiao's zì was: Zǐchǎn ((), and Du Fu's: Zǐméi (子美).
It is also common to construct a zì by using as the first character one which expresses the bearer's birth order among male siblings in his family. Thus Confucius, whose actual name was Kǒng Qiū (孔丘), was given the zì Zhòngní (仲尼), where the first character zhòng indicates that he was the second son in his family. The characters commonly used are bó (伯) for the first, zhòng (仲) for the second, shū (叔) for the third, and jì (季) typically for the youngest, if the family consists of more than three sons.
The use of zì began during the Shang Dynasty and slowly developed into a system, which became most widespread during the succeeding Zhou Dynasty . During this period, women were also given zì. The zì given to a woman was generally composed of a character indicating her birth order among females siblings and her surname. For example, Mèng Jiāng (孟姜) was the eldest daughter in the Jiāng family.
Prior to the 20th century, sinicized Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese were also referred to by their zì.
The zì of some famous people: {| class="wikitable" ! !! Family name !! Given name !! Zì |- | Laozi 老子 || Lǐ (李) || Ěr (耳) || Bó Yáng (伯陽) |- | Confucius 孔子 || Kong (孔) || Qiu (丘) || Zhòngní (仲尼) |- | Cao Cao 曹操 || Cao (曹) || Cao (操) || Mengde (孟德) |- | Liu Bei 劉備 || Liu (劉) || Bei (備) || Xuande (玄德) |- | Sima Yi 司馬懿 || Sima (司馬) || Yi (懿) || Zhòngdá (仲達) |- | Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 || Zhuge (諸葛) || Liang (亮) || Kongming (孔明) |- | Li Bai 李白 || Li (李) || Bai (白) || Taibai (太白) |- | Sun Yat-sen 孫逸仙 || Sun (孫) || Deming (德明) || Zaizhi (載之) |- | Mao Zedong 毛澤東 || Mao (毛) || Zedong (澤東) || Runzhi (潤之) |- | Yue Fei 岳飛 || Yue (岳) || Fei (飛) || Pengju (鵬舉) |- | Bai Chongxi 白崇禧 || Bai (白) || Chongxi (崇禧) || Jiansheng (健生) |- | Ma Fuxiang 馬福祥 || Ma (馬) || Fuxiang (福祥) || Yunting (雲亭) |- | Yusuf Ma Dexin 馬德新 || Ma (馬) || Dexin (德新) || Fuchu (復初) |- | Muhammad Ma Jian 馬堅 || Ma (馬) || Jian (堅) || Zishi (子實) |}
See also: Art-name (gō) in Japan.
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