The origin of celebrity names:

1. The origin of Confucius’ name

Confucius is a descendant of Gongsun Jia of the Kingdom of God. Gongsun Jia was given the courtesy name Kongwen. Some ancient Chinese people took their ancestor's "character" as their surname. For example, Prince Ya of Lu was given the name Shu, and his grandson was called Shu Dechen. Confucius also had his surname in this way. His surname is Kong.

Why do people call Confucius "Kong Laoer"?

It turns out that Confucius’s father, Shu Liang He, was a general in the State of Lu. He originally had nine daughters and one son. The only son was lame. At that time, when men were superior to women, Shu Lianghe was certainly not satisfied.

So, he and his wife went to Niqiu Mountain in the southeast of Qufu to pray to God for another son. Later, as expected, Confucius was born again. Xu Lianghe thought that he had prayed for him on Niqiu Mountain, so he named him Confucius, with the courtesy name Zhongni.

The word "Zhong" means ranking, which means "second". Because Confucius is the second son of Shu Liang He, people also call Confucius "Kong Lao Er".

2. The origin of Li Bai’s name

It is said that Li Bai did not have a formal name when he was seven years old. The reason is that when he was "catching Zhou", he grabbed the book "The Book of Songs", which not only made his father unhappy, but also made it difficult for his father to be upset.

He thought: If his son grew up to become a poet, wouldn't it be a pity if he didn't have a good and resounding name? Therefore, the more I thought about the poet's reputation, the more cautious I became about naming my son, so I didn't name him for many years.

In the spring of this year, Li Bai's family was playing in the courtyard. His father wanted to compose a poem about spring, and he wanted to test his son's ability. He chanted two lines, "The spring breeze brings warmth and the flowers bloom, and the spring blooms gold first." Then he said: "I can't think of the following verses. Let you, mother and son, continue it."

Li Bai's mother thought for a while and said: "The fire burns the apricot forest and the red clouds fall." As soon as she finished speaking, Li Bai pointed at the plum tree and said, "The plum blossoms are in full bloom and the tree is white." After hearing this, his father applauded repeatedly, and suddenly his heart moved: Isn't the first character of this poem exactly his family name? Doesn't the last word "white" express Li Hua's holiness and elegance?

So, he immediately decided that his son’s name would be Li Bai.

3. The origin of the name Jin Shengtan

Jin Shengtan was a literary critic in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He once revised "Water Margin" and "The West Chamber". He was humorous and was known as "arrogant and strange" in history. He was eventually killed in the "Laughing Temple Case".

Jin Shengtan, whose surname was Zhang and whose courtesy name was Ruocai, was changed to Renrui after the death of the Ming Dynasty and whose given name was Shengtan. Speaking of his name change, there is also a legend: Once, he and a group of scholars and supervisors went to the "Confucian Temple" "Sacrifice to Confucius.

At the end of the ceremony, the group of students, who were usually polite and docile, suddenly reached out to grab the pork and steamed buns on the altar table, making all kinds of ugly appearances. Because the Confucian scholars at that time believed in a heresy, whoever snatched the big fat meat and steamed buns sacrificed to Confucius would be promoted, promoted, become a high official, and get a good job.

Seeing this, Zhang Ruocai improvised a limerick, giving it a bitter irony: It was time for the sacrifice in the evening, and suddenly there was a quarrel. The meat was competing for fat and thin, the steamed buns were competing for the young and the young, Yan Hui lowered his head and smiled, and Zi Lu touched his feet. After jumping, the master sighed: "I am out of food in Chen, and I have never seen this starving death!"

From then on, he changed his surname to Jin, his famous name was Rui, and his courtesy name was Shengtan. The "gold" refers to the so-called golden body of the idol; the "sage sigh" refers to Confucius sighing for it.

4. The origin of the name "Xu Sanben"

Xu Zuomei, courtesy name Jingshuo and nickname Fu Yan, was a native of Xiyuanfeng, Xinxiang County, aged fifty-seven. He was one of the six major officials of the Ming Dynasty in Xinxiang County (Guo Shangshu, Zhang Bingbu, Xu Sanben, Liang Dutang, Zhang and Ma Erniangniang).

He was smart and knowledgeable since he was a child. He was elected in the ninth year of Chongzhen, became a Jinshi in the thirteenth year, and became an official and censor. After the fall of Ming Dynasty, he lived in seclusion in Sumen Mountain. In the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, he was ordered to Beijing. Because he was outspoken and dared to admonish, he did not avoid the powerful in impeachment. He wrote more than fifty memorials, all of which were written by the emperor. In the eleventh year, he was promoted to Shaoqing of Taipu Temple.

One day, the first book played "Shui Dan Shu". At that time, the mountain torrents and rivers broke out together, and Xin, Hui, Huo, Qi, Ji, Wen, Wuzhi and Xiuwu were all covered with water.

Each city has four gates and villages, and the water floats on the bridge. Even the red civil servants of the imperial court have to travel by boat. The second book is "Remaining People", which exposes the crimes of Wang Yongji, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, who falsely reported the disaster.

He was wandering in the palace courtyard brooding over the flood when he suddenly heard someone behind him say sarcastically: "Master Xu, are you going to play again today without a script?" The eunuch who was addicted to sexual desire saw that his robes and hats were immodest and his ribbons were exposed, so he shouted: "I won't show off my three books to others, but I will show you how to serve the king alone!" (After the eunuch is castrated, he must wash and change his clothes every time he meets the king) After saying that, he dragged the eunuch to the hall by his clothes and sleeves.

The emperor felt that his affairs were no matter how big or small, and he had great power to control the imperial court, so he granted Xu Zuomei the title of "composing three books a day, no matter how big or small". From then on, the name "Xu Sanben" spread.

5. The origin of Cao Xueqin’s name

Why is the author’s nickname of “Dream of Red Mansions” called “Xueqin”? One theory is that he was fond of drinking and eating. After his family declined, he often cooked his own meals. His best and favorite dish was "celery sprouts on the snow".

The so-called "snow-bottomed celery sprouts" existed as early as the Song Dynasty. They are made from celery sprouts covered by winter snow and stir-fried shredded dove meat.

It is said that this famous dish stir-fried with celery sprouts on the snow bottom is really light and delicious. This is probably why Cao took the word Xueqin in "Xuediqinya" as his nickname.