Chinese family names

[lep]

Hello there!

are these names from the same family? I see part of them is the same

 

 

Thanks for your time!

[Jim]

The tablets to the left and right are to men (显考 means late father), where the surname would be is the character 讳 in full form which means taboo, as I think you wouldn't write the surname there. Next are two two-character personal names. In the middle is  tablet for a woman (显妣 later mother 孺人 wife of an official, I'm guessing maybe just honorific) then rather than a given name 王氏 "of the Wang family". It was common for women to not be referred to by any formal given name. Patriarchy!

So likely all the same family, though the late woman married in. ETA Though we don't know the surname from what we have here; obviously the descendants paying their respects didn't need reminding.

[889]

While looking into this, I came across a fascinating monograph on name taboos in China:

 

A Good Son Is Sad if He Hears the Name of His Father: The Tabooing of Names in China As a Way of Implementing Social Values

 

Almost the full text is available on Google Books.

[Lu]

5 hours ago, 889 said:

While looking into this, I came across a fascinating monograph on name taboos in China:

 

A Good Son Is Sad if He Hears the Name of His Father: The Tabooing of Names in China As a Way of Implementing Social Values

Thanks for sharing this! It is indeed fascinating, I had no idea about most of this.

[lep]

Pretty interesting, everyday we learn something new, and it's great!

 

Thank you!

Best wishes!

[889]

To avoid confusion the title of that paper should actually be, "A Good Son Is Sad if He Hears the Name of His Late Father."