Thank you for this, the names always confuse me when getting into a series. Especially when you have to remember 2-4 names per character! Also I just looked at Lan Wangji's wiki page and it says his birth name 'Zahn' means 'azure blue' and 'Lan' means 'blue' as well.... so his name is Blue Blue. 😂 That made me laugh for a solid five minutes just calling him 'blublu' 😅
Very interesting! Thank you. In the Untamed just LWJ called WWX " Wei Jing" and just WWX called LWJ Lan Zhan which make it very "special" and international audience *got it" though didn't understand the root of it, so your explanation is really useful. I personally will be interested on how this changed during the Cultural Revolution 🙏
My grandpa used to have a family book with names recorded of the sons in the family, I think it was mostly the first borns (?) or whoever could add in names, but the book was passed down to the oldest son usually (my aunt who is in her 70s remembers seeing it once) but it got misplaced/lost at some point when my grandpa/his kids left China. All I know is that me and my sibs are the 32nd generation out of some family branch but there are even more generations in the family due to other branches being born from older sons (vs my branch that was born from the youngest of the youngest of the youngest etc son). My grandpa’s family clan used to live in Wuxi (near Shanghai). I’m Chinese American so I don’t really know much about Chinese culture though. But the lineage culture is really interesting and I never even knew that all these different names had significant meaning. But now it suddenly makes sense why my grandpa has a stone seal with a “nickname” on it. He actually has one of those childhood names that his mom used to call him carved on a seal (he was a painter and he had different seals with his different names to stamp his paintings). Thanks for making this video!
I would like to know about nicknames nowadays. Like why Gong Jun calls Zhang Zhe Han "da ge", and why ZZH calls GJ "JunJun". Thanks for your patience 😘
"Da ge" 大哥means big brother. It's a term we use to call really good male friends who are older by maybe a couple years. For females it would be 姐"Jie" or older sister. "Jun Jun" is another way to come up with a nickname. You take the last character of someone's name and double it. Wei Wuxian would be "Xian Xian" 😊
I love 'Xiao' and 'Ah' cause these pronunciation sounds too close to one another and kinda lovely..and I found when they called in series they sound too cute while saying or addressing another❤️
Wow, this is very helpful - and interesting! You briefly mentioned 'Xiao Jie' and 'Gu Niang' as ways to address young girls/women, but would a lady get a Zi? I'm quite curious!
Yes, Ladies did get "Zi" when they became an adult. However, only those from an educated family or those who have some background would be given a "Zi"
Thank you so much for your videos. As a westerner coming fresh to Chinese media (and as a literature nut who loves foot notes and cultural context indexes in her translated books) I often feel lost without these sorts of guides to help me. You break things down really well and I feel like a more learned person. Subscribed! :).
Just a few questions~ 1. If calling someone by their Ming is disrespectful unless you’re close to them, how do young children address other young children? Technically they don’t have a Zi yet since they’re not old enough...but there’s no other way of addressing them since they only have a Ming. (Also, it gets a little confusing when Yanli and Uncle Jiang calls WWX “Ah Xian” when he’s a child ಥ_ಥ) 2. Do you have to reach a certain age before others give you a Hao?
For question one, kids usually will have a nickname already so they will address each other with nicknames. For question two, some people might not even receive a Hao. It really depends on your popularity and reputation among the people.
@@yulan_5870 Hmmm with drama series you can never be too sure because they're fictional. So they might not actually include all these traditions into it.
Let me try this (feel free to correct if I have the wrong understanding): Jiang Cheng is younger than WWX therefore it is disrespectful to call the latter by birth name. JC could have called him 'da shixiong' (eldest martial brother) like the rest of the Jiang's disciples or familial addresses like 'ge' etc but he didn't because he can 😅. Calling him WWX is neutral. Just like WWX didn't call JC 'shidi' (martial younger brother) although he addresses Jiang Yanli as 'shijie' (martial sister). Lan Xichen called Lan Wangji by his courtesy name I guess because of Lan Clan's personality ~even their uncle didn't call either by the birth names. LWJ also addresses his brother 'xiong...something' (I can't remember now lol) which is a formal way to call older brother instead of more intimate 'ge'. The Lans are like that = prim, formal and proper. {Lan Xichen did call Lan Wangji as 'didi' (younger brother) in instances when he got drunk - in the audio drama and the donghua's extras}. {I'm not Chinese so this is just an 'outsider' view based on readings etc ☺️}
Ah that's so helpful, thank you for explaining for us all! Would you also explain how and when do you use someone's name doubled? Like Xianxian? Also why Xian'er sounded a little like Xier when you pronounced it?
When you come up with a nickname it really all comes down to how it sounds or how "compatible" is it. So really, a person can have A LOT of nicknames 😂 When we pronounce a word with "er" we sort of silence the last half of the syllable.
@@TytheCanasian ohh thank you so much for actually taking the time to reply, that's so nice of you! I have a few Chinese friends so this is all useful knowledge to me that I can surprise them with :D
@@RuiStar12 nope it is still pronounced as Lan Er 蓝二 Gongzi. the Er(二) in here is not the same Er(儿) that we use in a nickname. it will only be pronounced as L'er if it is written as 蓝儿 edit：you probably heard L'er cause we chinese sometimes like to link up pronunciations cause we lazy, just like how you pronounce "i dunno" in english
@@Joey-xy9qw Correct me if I'm wrong, the "Er" in Lan'er Gongzi, does it mean Second Lan since he is the second Lan Gongzi of Gusu Lan Sect after Xi Chen. Cause the Chinese character you used means 'two' or 'second' I think.
Thank you so much for the insight! I still have a question regarding the prefix "Ah". Is it reserved between close family members only or can also be used between friends? It sounds very cute and intimate☺
The prefix "ah" pretty much is universal. It can be used for among friends and family. But, obviously, don't use it for someone you just met or a stranger XD
Thanks for the video! I have a question, I don't understand why in the drama everyone calls each other by their full surname and 字, even when they're close? Why doesn't Jiang Cheng simply call him WuXian instead of Wei WuXian (unless it's just him being Jiang Cheng?) and in LWJ's case just Ying instead of Wei Ying?
What would be the names used to call someone who is very very close such as a boyfriend? Also the name for someone who is a partner in a relationship such as wife or husband? This was a very helpful video and I think it is the first one addressing the "names". Thank you from Arizona
Hmmm 🤔 for boyfriend I think any nickname can be used. For married couples there are sooooo many ways to say "husband" and "wife". But for nicknames, it really all depends on which one you like. Or which one sounds more suitable. Hope it helps 😊
any nickname could be used. you are in a close relationship with the person, or even as a family, don't really need to worry too much on which can be used. though you have to seek permission to call out the nickname in public if the individual is not comfortable with other people hearing the nickname
To be honest, I don't really know. My guess is that Wei wuxian called Jiang Cheng by his "ming" is because he thinks that they're close friends. But Jiang Cheng feels that they have some distance between them so he called WWX Wei Wuxian. Another explanation could be that its because Wei Wuxian is older than Jiang Cheng, so he gets to call him by his "ming", while the younger one, Jiang Cheng, doesn't get to call Wei Wuxian "wei ying"
Okay I have a question, doesn't Wei Wuxian starting calling Lan Wangji Lan Zhan before they got very close? I would get him just being disrespectful or whatever but Lan Wangji also starts calling Wei Wuxian Wei Ying before they developed a close friendship too.
@@divijabaynazeer4779 I mean WWX uses "Lan Zhan" the first time when he is trying to get LWJ attention. He first calls plenty of his different names. Then he gets pissed that LWJ keeps ignoring him and to piss him off he calls him "Lan Zhan". Idk how realistic this behavior is, but it was not really used that casually. And I think it's still quite a long time before LWJ starts calling WWX "Wei Ying".
I just recently rewatched this scene with a friend, and basically, WWX says “Lan Zhan” on purpose to get LWJ’s attention because he is doing his best to be a little shot and annoy him. So he intentionally crossed that social boundary knowing it would piss LWJ off xD But in the same scene, once he has LWJ’s attention, he also gives him permission to use his birth name (“You can use mine too, if you want”), and sure enough, it’s all Wei Yings from there 😆
Oh wow, we've been disrespecting JC for so long. some in the fandom probably doesn't even remember his ''zi'' Jiang Wanyin, since no one ever refers to him like that in-text excepts maybe LWJ. ''- v -)
Hello! This is a very helpful video. I have a question, why would calling Wei Wuxian "A-Ying" be disrespectful? (I used to think A-Ying sounds a lot cuter and shows a lot more closeness than A-Xian.) How different is the case for when Jiang Yanli call Jiang Cheng "A-Cheng" instead of "A-Yin"? Is it because they're siblings? Thank you so much!
"Ah Ying" would be calling Wei Wuxians by his name, which would be disrespectful unless you were extremely close with him. For Jiang Cheng I think his sister was just being respectful, she is a really kind and caring person. 😊
Hello, very interesting video, but just a question; would those of the lower class (like a merchant or a craftsmen) have a courtesy name? And if they did, would it be extremely strange?
So like when people say the name of Wei Wuxian as Wei Ying it means they are disregarding him..but if I say him as Wei Ying will it be too called as disrespectful??🙄 But I'm addressing him because I love him too...as....FAN😉..but I know it only reserved for Lan Zhan 😂
Very helpful video! This might not be a nickname, but I've seen men being called with 郎君 or just 郎 after their surnames. When I looked up on the internet is said the meaning of 郎君 is husband, but in all the scenes I watched the men were not the callers' husbands. Does it have another meaning to it? What is the difference between 郎君 and 郎? I hope you can find some time to spare to answer my question! Thanx!
Thank you for your question! Yes, 郎君 means one's husband. Perhaps it was the girl who was flirting with the guys that called them 郎君？ That is my guess. Or the girl wanted the guy to be her husband and called him that. Mostly because she was flirting with him.
@@TytheCanasian Thank you for your reply! Yes, all the girls who addressed the men were trying to flirt with him! So it does mean husband and nothing else... I see... Thanks alot!!
I have always kind of wondered, why Lan Xinchen always addreses Lan Zhan as Wang Ji. Since they are blood brothers and close ones. Shouldn’t he adress him by Lan Zhan? I understand, that as per your explanation, they are peers, but on the same note Wei Wuxian and Jian Wanying often address each other as Jian Cheng a Wei Ying. Same relationship as Xinchen and Wang Ji 🤨🤨🤨
