(from googling)
Quote
Chinese generation names are established through ancestral "generation poems," long lists of characters created by elders, with each new generation using the next character in the sequence as a shared middle name, indicating lineage and seniority within a clan, often following patterns like the Five Elements or expressing family hopes, though modern names often focus more on individual meaning.
Unquote
A lot of Chinese generation names are set down in batches, to be used for the generations in those batches.
To my knowledge, batches can vary in number. Who then picks up the baton for making up the next lot, I don't know.
The series in my family that I know of is made up of four characters, but they don't seem to me to make any particular poetic sense put together, so I'm not sure what the criterion is in my family's case.
Details of the batch in my family during my time as a child will be found in a separate blog, otherwise this blog will run and run.
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