ABSTRACT
It is a truism to say that despite the “patriarchal” nature of Chinese history, women played a vital role in it. Although Chinese society was a male-centred one, there were many examples of women enjoying a high social status and having an extraordinary impact on Chinese society and policy. Yet, although we have numerous works about women in China,1 the topic of women’s names and especially of their tabooing has been neglected in most research.2 It can be said generally that the name of a woman was perceived as important and tabooed in the same manner as the name of a man. The difference was the extension of taboo practice, which depended usually in the case of women on the position of her husband and sons. There are some cases of women’s names being tabooed because of their own power, but most examples are taboos of women on account of their social roles as mothers and wives. Even if taboo cases of men’s names are surely the majority, the number of taboo examples of women is still impressive.
