How the Ancient Chinese Named Their Newborns

The Chinese are a bit superstitious, especially while giving the name to the newborns. They presume that the name plays a large part in controlling the life span of the young one. They mostly adopt the principle of Yin & Yang, Five Elements, etc. with respect to this. Strokes form the character in Chinese. Yin refers to even number of strokes, while Yang refers to odd number of strokes. The number of strokes plays the vital part. Date of birth and time are made use of in determining the eight characters, which is known as Ba Zi.

Some parents prefer names depending upon his expectations-like health, intelligence, position in life etc. Some others consider historical event while naming the baby.

For those believing in astrology a child's name may be according to the time and date of birth. The season may also be considered. The birth year, animal signs etc may also play a role in the naming.

The techniques for naming girls are different from that of naming boys.

A boy may be named such that he grows up to a good natured, peace loving individual, who is liked by all. Apart from that he should be ambitious and of sound health. He should be able to serve the society.

Some others give names according to ancestral traditions or business.

The Chinese expect the girls to be virtuous and of high moral character. She should be excellent in managing house hold duties. She should be a good daughter, mother, wife and sister. She should be capable of inter acting with neighbors and guests. Yet another method was to give the child names like pig, cow etc. The Chinese used to think that such names would not entertain evil spirits and thereby the child is assured of long life.

The most lacking element in the chart is water. Astrologer will find a name pertaining to water. Suitable names are water, river, pond, lake, ocean etc. Winter is also okay, but to a small extend. If the lacking element is wood, names like forest, tree, bamboo etc may suffice.

Some others look for a name that accommodates the needed element.

Normally Chinese adopt basic characters. As an example, the character for fire and earth make up that for stove. So if fire or earth is absent, give the name related to stove.