About my name

My name is Haina Wang. Wang is my family name, and Haina is my given name. In Chinese, the family name comes first.

Haina is written with two Chinese characters. The first, 海 (hǎi), means “sea”, and the second, 纳 (nà), means “to embrace”.

When I was born, my grandfather chose several characters as candidates for my name. My parents picked 纳 from his list. My mother found it in this old Chinese saying.

海纳百川，有容乃大；
壁立千仞，无欲则刚。

She took its first two characters, 海纳, as my name.

The first four characters, 海纳百川 (hǎi nà bǎi chuān), form a Chinese idiom that means “the sea embraces ten thousand rivers.” In ancient Chinese texts, it describes a person of broad mind and generous spirit.

In traditional Chinese culture, what the West calls a given name had two parts. One was the míng (名), the personal name, and the other was the zì (字), the courtesy name. On reaching adulthood, a person took a courtesy name in addition to the personal name, for use in social life. The courtesy name usually explains, echoes or balances the personal name. Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮) took the courtesy name Kongming (孔明); liang and ming both mean “bright”. Han Yu (韩愈) took the courtesy name Tuizhi (退之); yu means “to surpass”, and tui means “to step back”, a reminder of restraint.

Elders and superiors addressed a person by the personal name. Equals used the courtesy name. Addressing someone the wrong way was impolite.

My courtesy name is Baichuan (百川), the “ten thousand rivers” of the same idiom. My mother sometimes affectionately calls me Baichuan. In modern life, courtesy names are rarely used. I use a Baichuan seal only on my calligraphy and paintings, as a personal mark.