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Posthumous name (諡號/謚號 Pinyin: shì hào; Romaji: shigō/tsuigō; Revised Romanization of Korean: siho) is the name commonly used when naming most Chinese royalty, most of Korean royalty, and all the emperors of Japan, except the four most recent emperors, Akihito, Hirohito (the Showa emperor), the Taisho emperor and the Meiji emperor. Posthumous names in China were given to honor lifetime accomplishment: many people who were not related to the Chinese emperor have posthumous names. An example is Sun Yat-Sen who is called Father of the Country (國父 Guófù).
Having its origins in the Zhou Dynasty, posthumous names were used 800 years earlier than temple name. The first person named posthumously was Ji Fa (姬昌), named by his son Ji Fa (姬發) of Zhou, as the "Civil King" (文王). The use of posthumous names was stopped in the Qin Dynasty, because Qin Shi Huangdi proclaimed that it is disrespectful for the descendants, or "later emperors" (嗣皇帝) to judge their elders, or the "prior emperors" (先帝). The practice was revived in the Han Dynasty after the demise of the Qin Empire.
All Chinese posthumous names for rulers end in one or two of the characters for "emperor", huangdi (皇帝), which can be shortened to di; except about a dozen or so less recognized ones who have had only di and no huang.
Starting with Emperor Xiaowen of Han China (more commonly "Emperor Wen"), every single Han emperor, except the final one of the Eastern Han, has the character of "filial" (孝 xiào) at the beginning of his posthumous names. "Filial" is also used in the full posthumous names of virtually all emperors of Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. For Qing emperors, "filial" is placed in various position in the string of characters, while those Qing empresses who were given posthumous names, "filial" is always initial.
The number of characters in posthumous increased slowly. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty have names in between seven to eighteen characters. Those in the Qing Dynasty have over twenty characters, for example, Kangxi's name is The Emperors of Order who Observes the Heavenly Rituals with a Solemn Fate, Destined to Unify, Establishes with Extreme Talented Insights, Admires the Arts, Manifests the Might, with Great Virtue and Vast Achievement, Reaches Humanity, Purely Filial" (禮天隆運定統建極英睿欽文顯武大德宏功至仁純孝章皇帝 lǐ tiān lóng yǔn dìng tǒng jiàn jí yīng ruì qīn wén xiǎn wǔ dà dé hóng gōng zhì rén chún xiào zhāng huáng dì).
The woman with the longest posthumous name is Empress Cixi, who is "The Empress who is Admirably Filial, Initiates Kindness, with Blessed Health, Manifests Much Contentment, Solemn Sincerity, with Longevity, Provides Admiration Prosperously, Reveal Adoration, Prosperous with a Merry Heaven, with a Holy Appearance" (孝欽慈禧端佑康頤昭豫莊誠壽恭欽獻崇熙配天興聖顯皇后 xiào qīn cí xī duān yǒu kāng yí zhāo yù zhuāng chéng shào gōng qīn xiàn chóng xī bèi tiān xìn shèng yán xiǎn huáng hòu).
Posthumous names can be praises (褒字) or depreciations (貶字). There are more praises than depreciations, so posthumous names are also commonly called respectful name (尊號 zun1 hao4) in Chinese. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian outlines extensively the rules behind choosing the names. Below lists some of those guidelines:
However, most of these qualifications are subjective, repetitive, and highly stereotypical, hence the names are chosen somewhat arbitrarily.
Because it is given by the descendants, the last one or two emperors of a dynasty are usually without posthumous names.
Japanese posthumous are also called "emperor names" (帝号). Almost all Japanese emperors' posthumous names have two Kanji characters, a few have three. Some names are given several generations later, this is case for Jimmu and Antoku. Others are given immediately after death, like Mommu. Many have style like the Chinese, for example
Some have Japanese style:
Although Korean emperors and kings had elaborate posthumous names, they are usually referred to by their temple names today.
It was common in China and Korea for persons of note to be given posthumous names despite not having and relation to royalty:
Often immediate ancestors of the first emperor of a dynasty were typically given posthumous names even though they themselves were not royalty.
An exception to insignificant ancestor-naming is Lao Zi, the claimed ancestor of the Li family of the Tang Dynasty, was named posthumously (see the "Lao Zi" article). He has been culturally important after death.
To combine an emperor's temple name and posthumous name, place temple first.
The process of naming somebody posthumously is in Chinese called "retroactively posthumously naming" (追謚).
A fuller description of this naming convention for royalty appears in the Chinese sovereign entry.
See also: Emperor of Japan, name, Japanese name, Chinese name, Korean name
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