Posthumous name

Aposthumous nameis anhonorarynamegiven to someone after theirdeath.This type ofnamewas common with naming royalty in the countries ofJapanandChina.They were also sometimes used inVietnamandKorea.

History

This idea was created during theZhou DynastyinChina.The first person to be named in this way wasJi Chang,named by his son. His son,Ji FaofZhou,called his father the "CivilKing".This meant that he found his father to be good andsympatheticto the people he ruled.

These sort of names were not used during theQin Dynasty.During that time, these names were not thought to showrespect.Posthumous names were used again during theHan Dynasty.

Chinese emperors

Chinese posthumous names, for rulers, end in one or bothsymbolsfor "emperor",Huángdì.This can be shortened toDì.

These names were sometimes very long. They can be good names or bad. Good names are called respectful names (orzūn hàoin Chinese). Some of these names are:

• "pitiful",for those who were often sad during their rule.
• "lamentable",for those who lose theirspouse's and pass away at an early age.
• "civil",for those who hadsympathisedwith their people. This is one of the most honorable names.
• "majestic",for those who showedvirtueto the people.

Japanese emperors

The posthumous names ofJapanese emperorsare calledteigō.Some names are given a long time after their death. Others are given right after the emperor had died.

Some of these names tell about theplacethey were born or lived in, ortraitsthey had that their peopleadmired.

Some also put together two previous emperors' or empresses' names, likeEmpressMeishō.The empresses before her were calledGemmeiandGenshō.So her name becameMeishō.

Related pages

• Personal name
• Family name
• Given name
• Regnal name
• Surname

Other websites

• Posthumous names in ChinaArchived2005-11-23 at theWayback Machine