Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-07-09
NAMES OF CHINESE.
6EwlLpER THE GLOBE TRoTTER. BUT
ARE CLEAR TO THE NATIVES.


ARE CLEAR TO THE NATIVES.
Starting with . sssIiIk Name" Soon After
Birth. the Chinese Go Through String
of Appeliations-The Women Defrauded
of Their Fair Share Of Names.
Among many puzzles which help TO be-
wilder q foreigner who has newly arrived |
In China not the least difficult to solve Is |
that OF Chinese names. If one innoccntly |
asks a native what his name is, the an |
swer received Is an photographed |
sketch, In the course of which its hero pre- |
sents himself under n variety of appella- |
lions, and much probing OF tho question |
Is necessary before one can arrive ut n toll |
erably clear idea of the subject.
All children are given iu ming, or |
"milk name" when they are few weeks |
old. This is conferred upon them with n
certain degree of ceremony. After the
birth of a son among we'll to do people
the parents spread a feast to which all
male relatives and intimate friends arc in
vited- When the company Is assembled,
the father carries the child into the room
and Announces the name decided upon. Ev-
cry ono who attends the entertainment Is
the bearer of n present, and on leaving ~
ceives in return an ornamental box con-
tanning q slice of roast pork, n custom
bringing to mind the rather more refined
French ono OF giving each guest at n chris
tening box of bonbons. The mother docs
not appear ut table, but passes the day in
chin-chinning Ito 'chin-chin" is to greet,
to fropitatc, etc. } tho gods on the baby's
behalf. During the evening, in order to
warn off evil spirits, numbers of flrccrack-
ers arc exploded. 1t is not considered nee
essary to give n feast when n daughter Is
born, nor arc the congratulations of friends
expected Children's milk names are
always fanciful and pretty, but that tho
evil eye may be aycrtcd these arc often
dropped and tho little ones called by some
opprobrious nickname, such as pig, bug,
hog, flea, etc.
When u boys education begins, a shu
ming, or "book name" Is assumed. Ho is
taken by his father to the school which
has been chosen, where the father and
teacher unto in kowtowing before the
memorial tablets of Confucius and other
sages-some of these tablets always hang
on tho walls of schoolrooms-and in be-
seeching them to look favorably upon the
lad The shu ming consists of two char
acters which have some suspicious and APP
propriate meaning, such names as Intel
ligent Scholar, Entering Virtue, Rapid
Progress, etc, being frequently selected.
When a man marries, he adopts yet an
other name called tsz (stylc). This is some
times composed of n combination of his
"milk" and book" names, but is morc
commonly brand new for the occasion. II
he obtains n literary dcgrce or occupies an
official position, he receives n kwan ming,
or official name.'' II he is n tradcsman,
he takes hac, or shop name" 1t is usual
for the hao to contain some allusion either
to the personal appearance or to the occu-
patton of the shopkccper. This custom
accounts for the ridiculous. signs which
amuse "globc trottcrs" as they stroll along
the Queens road in Hong Kong or wan
der into the Honkew of Shanghai, the
signs in these streets being written in Eng
lish. Strictly speaking the hao belongs
moro to tho shop than to the shopman, but
IL is always used by foreigners rs If it werc
q personal name, and not infrcquCntly by
the Chinese also. The case is, however,
very much the same as If n stranger in
Paris wero to talk about Mr.. Louvrc,"
or Mr. Bon Marchc." 1t might be sup
posed that the supply of names cnumcrat-
cd would satisfy any reasonable man, and
that he could die, in this respect, content
with fate, but not so. y Chinaman leaves
strict injunctions with regard to the final
one, which is bestowed on him only after
death. Under it will his virtues In emu
mcratcd on the ancestral tablet, and under
| 1t he will bc worshipcd by successive gen
erations of descendants.
Woman, who is in China dcfraudCd of
most of her rights, naturally Is not allow
| cd her fair share of names. She is called
by her ju ming until her marriage, when
her family name becomes her given name,
| and she adopts in its place the cognomcn
| of her husbands clan. Thus, According
| to the Chinese custom, II Miss Rose Brown
| married Mr.. Robinson, she would discard
tho Rose and call herself Robinson
Brown, the family namc always being
/ placed first
In the south Of China both mems and
/ womcn's names arc in conversation com
monty abbreviated to one character, TO
| which IN A Is prefiXcd, rs A-loh, a cum,
| etc. In Annoy and its ncighborhood this
/ practice is reversed, tho y being placed
after tho character, while in many prov
| inccs of tho empire tho custom Is Cntircly
| unknown A stranger Is astonishCd ON
finding that men and women are frequent
| ly called by tho same names, and still
moro surprised when he discovers that in
| the Chinese language no words exist which
correspond to our Christian namcS-that
Is to say, there is none used solely for this
/ purpose rs wo use Henry, James, Mary,
etc They arc simply chosen with rcfcr-
enco to their meaning, which causes what
/ difference there is between the names of
the sexes. These are, as has been re-
| marked, often alike, but again there arc
certain terms which arc only applied tn
men, and vice versa. Thus while \ Lily, 4"
"A Flower and "Emulating the Moon"
arc favorito names for girls they arc not
/ considered suitable to tho sternCr sex.
| All foreign tradcsmcn who establish
themselves in tho country take n ''hao'
i and all foreign merchants "hong" name
tho famous firm OF Jardinc, Mathcson Y
Co. being known rs Emo" that of But
terrified s. Swire as "Taku." Even trav-
elers arc generally inspiri with desire
| to have ivory boxes, pocket handkcrchicfs
| and other articles marked with their name
in Chinese. This fancy enables the willy
Celestial to play many a sly jok- ON the
hated fan kwci" Cforcign dcviD- Charac-
tors which approach tho fOrcign name in
sound are offered to him, but it Is n Pccul-
iarity of the language that, although many
| Of its characters have almost exactly the
same sound, their meanings differ widely,
| and there Is no written resemblance be-
tween them. Tho unconscious globe trot-
ter" knows naught of this. He will dine
| out and exhibit with tho utmost cOmpla-
cency q handkerchief on which he is de-
scribed as ''fat pig or "littlc bug, "
whereas had no consulted n Chinese scholar
no might have gone forth with highly
complimentary terms inscribed on his per