Why do Wei Ying and Lan Zhan call each other by their formal names, while most everyone else calls them Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi?
I see some people getting confused about why a guy has so many names, and it’s not exactly obscure knowledge but not everyone knows this, even if you’re a native speaker. But the connotations are so delicious, so I’m gonna paraphrase some stuff from a Lofter post here: http://cherrywolfling.lofter.com/post/1e533604_1c65417ff
Lan 藍 is the family name. Zhan 湛 is his formal name (名) and WangJi 忘機 is his courtesy name (字).
Wei Ying 魏嬰 is the formal name, and Wei WuXian 魏無羨 is the courtesy name.
HanGuang Jun 含光君 is a title (號 or 号) that other folks address him as to show respect, same goes for the YiLing Patriarch 夷陵老祖, which I’ll talk about in another post.
Lan Zhan, the formal name, is his birthname that his parents gave him when the baby is 3 months old. Lan WangJi, the courtesy name, is given to him by elders in the family or some VIP when he’s about 20.
You’re not supposed to call someone by their formal name if you’re about the same age, because it’s rude, and can be taken as picking a fight, so you almost always use their courtesy name, unless you’re their elders in the family, or you’re *close*.
When you talk about yourself, though, you should always use your formal name. It’s silly and awkward to refer to yourself with your courtesy name, kinda like talking about oneself in the third person.
You can still use the courtesy name to address someone even if you’re their elder, perhaps to show courtesy, or perhaps because you don’t want to assume familiarity.
Here come the interesting parts:
A. Wei Ying only started calling Lan Zhan by his formal name because Lan Zhan ignored him all the previous times when Wei Ying addressed him courteously.
B. Lan Zhan only started calling Wei Ying by his formal name because Wei Ying added *adult content* into his reading material and Lan Zhan got quite upset.
C. The elder Jiang clan leader calls Wei Ying / Wei WuXian by several forms of both of his names, sometimes A-Xian but more often A-Ying; Jiang’s wife Madam Yu calls him Wei Ying, which sounds exactly like when your grade school teacher calls you up by your full name.
D. Jiang Cheng calls Wei Ying by his courtesy name Wei WuXian all the time, even though they’re close like brothers, because while he might not be polite to Wei Ying, he certainly adheres to the established social norms. Meanwhile, Wei WuXian always calls him and Wen Ning by their formal names, because he is *~untamed~*.
E. Jiang Cheng’s courtesy name is Jiang WanYin; Wen Ning’s courtesy name is Wen QiongLin. The only two times I saw these used in the TV series were:
(i) Lan Zhan addressing Jiang Cheng. Lan Zhan is a polite boy. Also, you almost never hear him directly addressing someone who’s not his elder or Wei Ying. The only time he called out Jiang WanYin’s name was to stop him from you-know-what; that’s why it sounded so abrupt.
(ii) Wei Ying addressing Wen Ning. The only time Wei Ying called him Wen QiongLin was in a panic and to wake him up from possession. Otherwise the audience would’ve forgotten that Wen Ning wasn’t his courtesy name.
Calling someone by their courtesy name doesn’t always mean respect, though. It’s just a way to show you’re spotless in terms of social customs. Examples are the minor villains Wen Chao and Jin ZiXun, who are very happy to torture Wei WuXian while addressing him with his courtesy name.
How is a courtesy name usually picked?
1. Pick words that have the same meaning as the formal name.
2. Pick words that are similar or adjacent in meaning to the formal name.
3. Pick words that are the antonyms to the formal name.
4. Pick words that explain or expand on the formal name.
