While swaying on the bus today, I thought, if I were to have a child in the future, what name should I give them?
The current generational ranking of the He family in Xiangxiang is:
Han Zhi You Ren Fang Chong Tian Fu Shou Chang Xi Sheng Wen Cai Guang Xing Long Yong Dai Chang Hua Xian Si Cheng Xu An Bang Si Yan Liang Fu Gui Jia Sheng Zhen Jiu Yuan Fa Shu Xiang
Since I belong to the “Long” generation, the next generation would be the “Yong” generation.
The character “Yong” is the most exquisite character in Chinese calligraphy, encompassing all the brush techniques required for writing in regular script.
As someone who has studied but writes poorly, I have always held a special admiration (reverence) for calligraphy. For wishes I cannot fulfill myself, I can only fantasize about passing them on to the next generation.
Although generational rankings are rarely included in names these days, such a fine character should not be wasted. So, I tentatively decided on this character first.
Continuing my thoughts, my general principles for names are: smooth pronunciation, simple characters, profound meaning, and few duplicates.
- Smooth pronunciation: avoid awkward, laborious, or negative connotations;
- Simple characters: avoid overly complex writing. After all, it’s a name to be written for a lifetime, so don’t waste too much ink, especially on obscure characters that might be hard for others to recognize or pronounce;
- Profound meaning: avoid using characters with overly simple meanings, making the name seem hollow;
- Few duplicates: avoid many inconveniences in life. Additionally, traditionally, one must consider not repeating characters used by elders.
Finding characters by sound is the first step; whether a name is good often depends first on its pronunciation.
The combination of “He” and “Yong” is already a falling tone + rising tone combination. Generally, one should avoid continuing with characters of the same tone, and sometimes avoid repeating the initial “Y” and the final “Ong,” making the pronunciation less smooth.
Thus, the general direction for selecting characters is towards level or rising tones. I mentally tested many sounds and found that naming is not an easy task; either the repeated sounds are already used by others, or the resulting pronunciations are not smooth.
After much thought, a sound suddenly came to mind, “YongYan,” probably from a phrase I once memorized, “永言葆之，遹求厥宁” (Yong Yan Bao Zhi, Yu Qiu Jue Ning).
Taking out my phone to search, I realized I misremembered the characters; it’s actually “永言保之” (Yong Yan Bao Zhi), which is even better.
This is from a couplet on the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, written by Emperor Qianlong: “帝命式于九围，兹惟艰哉，奈何弗敬；天心佑夫一德，永言保之，遹求厥宁。” (The emperor’s command extends to the nine regions, this is indeed difficult, how can one not be reverent; Heaven’s heart blesses with one virtue, eternally preserve it, seeking peace.)
Here, “永言保之” is taken from the “Zhou Song”: “以介眉寿，永言保之，思皇多祜。” (To assist in longevity, eternally preserve it, thinking of the emperor’s many blessings.)
The character “言” here serves only as a phonetic auxiliary, without substantive meaning.
Seeing this, I thought, damn, such a high-end, grand, and classy phrase, should I just give up on it?
So, I continued to Google it. I found that the characters “永言” are also recorded in the “Book of Documents”: “诗言志，歌永言，声依永，律和声。” (Poetry expresses intent, songs prolong speech, sounds follow prolongation, and rhythms harmonize sounds.)
Traditionally attributed to Emperor Shun, it succinctly reveals the origin and development of poetry: in Han culture, “poetry” is used to express human intentions, “songs” are used to sing the language of “poetry,” “sounds” accompany the singing and change, and “rhythms” are used to harmonize with the sounds.
Here, the characters “永言” together express the meaning of “songs,” in modern terms, a synonym for “songs.”
Since “永” here often appears as a variant of “咏” (to chant), and in modern times it mainly expresses “permanent, eternal,” unless one has a deep understanding of classical Chinese, few would directly grasp the traditional cultural meanings of these two characters.
So, in the modern vernacular era, whether “永言” is a viable name is something to ponder over time.
However, it can be found that the name “贺永言” (He Yongyan) has fewer than 5 duplicates nationwide. As a combination of two very simple Chinese characters, this is already quite rare.