Name accompanies a person throughout their entire life. From the moment a person is born, they are given a name, which they carry into social activities. The direct function of a name is to serve as a unique symbol that distinguishes the name's owner from others, used for calling and identification. A name is a unique representative symbol of a person. It is not merely a simple substitute for a life, but also represents many more essential aspects, including character, occupation, origin, education level, image, social status, and even virtues and vices.

Currently, there are four main categories: meaning, number, character, and sound, which are considered more authentic.

Meaning category:

1. Determine auspiciousness or inauspiciousness based on the yixue (I Ching) meaning and position of the characters in the name:

For example: Li Ji
Li: surname, not considered for meaning.
Ji: a character that is not auspicious, indicating worry and mental strain, or possible imprisonment or love problems, but it is auspicious in old age.

2. Determine auspiciousness or inauspiciousness based on the phonetic meaning of the name: Due to homophones or similar sounds of Chinese characters, different names can have different meanings when pronounced. If the phonetic meaning of a name is inauspicious, it may bring negative influences.

Number category:

The number category refers to converting the strokes of the characters in the name into numbers. This involves using the traditional form of Chinese characters (based on the Kangxi Dictionary), simplified characters, or calculating strokes according to numerology. Alternatively, the numbers can be converted into other elements such as the Eight Trigrams, the Five Elements, the Nine Palaces, etc., forming schools like the "Eight Trigrams School," "Six Yen School," and "He Luo School."

35: A stable and introverted number, representing a graceful development (very auspicious).

Poem: A very auspicious number, where defense becomes attack, business is stable, and wealth flows smoothly.

28: A number representing a weak family relationship and isolation (inauspicious).

Poem: Fish in a dry land, unable to escape misfortune. This number is very inauspicious; better to change the name.

Character category:

The character category of name studies analyzes and determines auspiciousness or inauspiciousness by examining the characters themselves. There are the "character shape school" that judges based on the shape of the character; the "radical and stroke school" that combines radicals with the birth year's zodiac or examines relationships between radicals; and the "divination character school" that uses traditional methods to transform the characters in the name to determine auspiciousness or inauspiciousness.

Sound category:

The sound category of names divides Chinese characters into five categories based on their pronunciation: earth sound, metal sound, wood sound, fire sound, and water sound. Then, it determines auspiciousness or inauspiciousness based on the relationships between the Five Elements.

Earth sound: vowels a, o, e, ie, ai, ei, ao, ou, an, en, ang, eng, ong

Metal sound: initial consonants j, q, x, z, c, s, i

Wood sound: retroflex consonants g, k, h, zh, ch, sh, r

Fire sound: alveolar consonants d, t, n, l

Water sound: bilabial explosive sounds b, p, m, f, w

Wood sound—mainly relates to the liver, blood, muscles, and nervous system.

Fire sound—mainly relates to the heart, tongue, eyes, and cerebellum.

Earth sound—mainly relates to the digestive system, limbs, and skin.

Metal sound—mainly relates to the respiratory system, large intestine, and nose.

Water sound—mainly relates to the reproductive system, endocrine system, urinary system, and bones.