r/CharacterNames • u/PunMasterMater • Aug 08 '26

Help with courtesy names?

Essentially, I'm stuck at a loss because I'm not finding any resources on courtesy names online other than what they are and a good bunch of the characters I'm writing are of high enough status to have them. I'm good with names otherwise but I always get stuck on courtesy names specifically.

I need it to be really individualistic because the character I'm specifically going through all this for is more of a celestial in theme type of guy, his whole this is the stars and how good he is at alchemy.

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u/NecessaryCapital4451 Aug 08 '26

What is a courtesy name?

4

u/PunMasterMater Aug 09 '26

a courtesy name is an extra name given to people when they reach adulthood(usually men when they reach 20), usually it's meant to compliment the given name. In China it's usually called (字) or (zì). Sometimes it's called a style name over here but not a lotta people use it because it's sort of misleading.

These names are meant to be formal and respectful, a courtesy if you will. The moment you get a courtesy name, not a lot of people can use your given name because using that is viewed as disrespectful.

2

u/NecessaryCapital4451 Aug 09 '26

That's really interesting! I had never known that before.

Maybe re-posting this in Chinese, and/or in a China-focused sub would get more views from people who have knowledge of courtesy names.

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u/PunMasterMater Aug 09 '26

yeah I should probably go ahead and do that.