Historical imprints on Chinese ideological given names

Abstract

This diachronic study investigates Chinese ideological given names (personal names which represent the name-givers’ shared ideas and beliefs) by focusing on historical changes over five time periods between 1935 and 2012. Based on an analysis of 21,687 given names, 2,687 (12.4%) of which are ideological names, the study finds that naming practices bear historical imprints in terms of content and syllabic form. The more intensely a society is politicized, the higher the rate of occurrence of ideological given names. The data also illustrate the dynamic that exists in naming practices between conformity and individuality. In this article, we argue that names are like social cards: people play them to serve their ideological needs, as shown by the evolution of naming strategies through different historical periods. The implication is that historical changes can influence the way in which a name can communicate ideological views.