Posthumous name

Posthumous name
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	諡號/謚號
Simplified Chinese	谥号
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin shì hào
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	thụy hiệu
Chữ Hán
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja	諡號
Transcriptions Revised Romanization siho
Japanese name
Kanji	諡号
Hiragana	しごう / おくりな
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn shigō/tsuigō

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	shì hào

Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	siho

Transcriptions
Revised Hepburn	shigō/tsuigō

A posthumous name is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in East Asia after the person's death, and is used almost exclusively instead of one's personal name or other official titles during his life. The posthumous name is commonly used when naming royalty of China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

Posthumous names in China and Vietnam were also given to honor lifetime accomplishments of many people who did not have hereditary titles, for example to successful courtiers.

A posthumous name should not be confused with the era name and temple name.

The posthumous name consists of one or more adjectives inserted before the ruler's title. As rulers from different states might share the same posthumous name, but rulers within a state would usually not repeat an already used name, the name of the state or domain is usually also given to avoid ambiguity. In Chinese the whole construct is therefore "[state][adjective][title]", which in English is typically translated as "[title][adjective] of [state]", such as King Wen of Zhou, Duke Mu of Qin, and King Cheng of Chu. The literal meaning of the adjective is normally not translated.

While the names of living Chinese can be just about any combination of characters, the posthumous name was chosen from a rather small pool of stock characters; the literal meaning of which eroded as a result.

Early mythological rulers such as Emperor Yao are considered to have posthumous names. All rulers of Shang Dynasty are known only by their posthumous names, as their personal names were not recorded in classical texts.

Archaeological discoveries have shown that early kings of the Zhou dynasty, such as King Wen and King Wu, used "posthumous names" during their lifetime, but later they became chosen by successors after the ruler's death. As a result, final rulers of states and rulers seen as illegitimate (such as usurpers) often do not have posthumous names and are referred to by their personal names, e.g. Jian, King of Qi; Min, Marquis of Jin; and Chen Tuo.

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Wikipedia