China In Chinese culture,
Hao refers to honorific names made by oneself or given by others when one is in middle age. After one's gaining the
Hao, other persons may then call such a person by one's
Hao even without such a person being presented.
Hao usually is made by a person oneself, but sometimes is given by a high-ranked official or even is bestowed by the monarch. The use of this name as a nom de plume or artistic name, however, appears to have begun only during the
Six Dynasties period, with
Tao Yuanming and
Ge Hong among the first literati to have given themselves
Hao. Art names came into vogue during the
Tang dynasty, during which time they could either be coined by the persons themselves, or given to them as a name by others. Most
Hao can be placed within a few categories: •
Hao derived from the locations or characteristics of the person's residence. For instance, Tao Yuanming was Wuliu Xiansheng, "Mister Five-Willows", while
Su Shi was Dongpo Jushi, "
Householder of the Eastern Slope", after his residence while exiled in
Huangzhou. These were mostly self-coined. •
Hao derived from certain well known sayings by the person. For example,
Ouyang Xiu was known as Liuyi Jushi, "Householder of the Six Ones", after his self description as "One myriad books, one thousand inscriptions, one
qin, one game of chess, one flask of wine and one old man". •
Hao derived from one's famous poetic lines or images. These were most often given by others in admiration.
Li Bai, for his free-spirited behaviour, was known as Zhe Xianren, "Banished Immortal"; while the poet
He Zhu was known as He Meizi, "He the Plum", after an acclaimed line about yellow plums. •
Hao derived from one's official posts, birthplace, or a place where they served as officials.
Du Fu was known as Du Gongbu, "Du of the Ministry of Works", having briefly been a senior officer in that ministry.
Tang Xianzu was called "Tang of Nanhai" for his birthplace. By the
Song dynasty, the majority of literati called each other by their art names, which in turn often changed; this situation continued up to the 20th century.
Japan In
early modern Japan, a
woodblock print artist's first
gō was usually given to them by the head of the school (a group of artists and apprentices, with a senior as master of the school) in which they initially studied; this
gō usually included one of the characters of the master's
gō. For example, one of Hokusai's earliest pseudonyms was Shunrō; his master
Katsukawa Shunshō having granted him the character 'shun' from his own name. One can often trace the relationship among artists with this, especially in later years, when it seems to have been fairly (although not uniformly) systematic (particularly in the
Utagawa school) that the first character of the pupil's
gō was the last of the master's
gō. Thus, an artist named
Toyoharu had a student named
Toyohiro, who, in turn, had as a pupil the famous landscape artist
Hiroshige. Another figure who studied under Toyoharu was the principal head of the
Utagawa school,
Toyokuni. Toyokuni had pupils named
Kunisada and
Kuniyoshi. Kuniyoshi, in turn, had as a student
Yoshitoshi, whose pupils included Toshikata.
Korea In Korea, these names are called (). According to the
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, they arrived on the peninsula from China during the
Three Kingdoms of Korea period (57 BC – 668 AD). They are now relatively uncommon, although some recent authors use
pen names (), which are seen as very similar to a subvariant of called . During deliberations of the
Constitutional Court, justices address one another by their , rather than by personal names. People can either create their own or it can be given to them by others. Typically people select their own based on the meaning of the name. When other people give a person a , it typically reflects their shared social context or relationship (parent to child, friend to friend, teacher to student, etc). Names can also be selected to avoid
naming taboos. ==Reused names==