Generation name, variously zibei or banci, is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese name, and is so called because each member of a generation (i.e. siblings and cousins of the same generation) share that character, unlike surnames or given names. Western names do not have an equivalent custom.

This table illustrates an example.

Unit	Chinese form			Western form
	Family name	Generation name	Given name
Father	Xia	Zhou	Jin	Zhoujin Xia
Father's sibling	Xia	Zhou	Sui	Zhousui Xia
Mother	Shang	Qin	Tang	Qintang Shang
Mother's sibling	Shang	Qin	Song	Qinsong Shang
First child	Xia	Han	Zheng	Hanzheng Xia
Second child	Xia	Han	Li	Hanli Xia
Third child	Xia	Han	Yong	Hanyong Xia

Where used, generation names were usually given only to males, although this does vary from lineage to lineage and has changed over time.

The generation name is a single character and is typically prescribed by a generation poem (banci lian or paizi ge in Chinese) specific to each lineage. These poems can vary in length from around a dozen characters to hundreds of characters. Each successive character becomes the generation name for successive generations. After the last character of the poem is reached, the poem is usually recycled though occasionally it may be extended.

Generation poems were usually composed by a committee of family elders whenever a new lineage was established through geographical emigration or social elevation. Thus families sharing a common generation poem are considered to also share a common ancestor and have originated from a common geographical location.

Generation names may be the first or second name to follow the clan name. Normally its position is consistent for the associated lineage. However some lineages alternate its position from generation to generation. This is quite common for Korean names. Sometimes lineages will also share the same radical in the non-generation name.

Important examples are the generation poems of the Kong and Meng family. During the Ming Dynasty, emperor Zhu Yuanzhang respected Confucius and Mencius so much that he honored their families with generation poems. These generation poems were extended with the permission of the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Tongzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the Ministry of Interior of the Beiyang Government.

A related, but uncommon, custom is the practice of giving two children single-character given names from a double-character word. In Chinese, most words are composed of two or more characters. For example, the word 健康 (jiàn kāng) means "healthy". A family might name one 王健 (wáng jiàn) and the other 王康 (wáng kāng). Another example would be 美丽 (měi lì) which means "beautiful". Daughters might be names 周美 (zhōu měi) and 周丽 (zhōu lì).

See also

• Chinese name
  • Chinese given name
  • Chinese surname
• Korean name
• Vietnamese name

References

1. 孟

External links

• Ten untranslated poems: the Cantonese Lee family
• Poem of the Nguyen of Vietnam
• Generation Poem of the descendants of Huang Qiaoshan (871–953) of the Chinese Huang Clan.