Courtesy Name Generator

A courtesy name is a second, adult name used in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam from roughly the Zhou dynasty until the early twentieth century. Called zi in Chinese, ja in Korean, azana in Japanese and tự in Vietnamese, it was given at coming of age and used by peers and colleagues instead of the given name, which was considered too intimate or presumptuous for others to say.

Read the meaning of the given name and pick a courtesy name that comments on it: a synonym (Liang and Kongming, both bright), an image that completes it (Yun, cloud, with Zilong, dragon) or an opposite that balances it (Yu, advance, with Tuizhi, withdraw). Add a birth-order prefix such as Bo, Zhong, Shu or Ji if the character's place among siblings matters.

Yes, though less often recorded. Famous examples include the historian Ban Zhao (zi Huiban), the poet Cai Yan (Wenji), the painter Guan Daosheng (Zhongji), the Tang poet Xue Tao (Hongdu), the Korean poet Heo Nanseolheon (ja Gyeongbeon) and the revolutionary Qiu Jin (Xuanqing). Women's courtesy names often used ji (lady) or characters for jade, orchid and grace.

A courtesy name (zi) was given by elders at adulthood and followed conventions tied to the given name. An art name or pseudonym (hao in Chinese, ho in Korean, gō in Japanese, hiệu in Vietnamese) was chosen by the person later in life, often after a studio, place or ideal, and could change; Su Shi's zi was Zizhan but his hao was Dongpo Jushi.