Hello! I have a names-related question. So if adding "A" to a name makes it like a pet name/familiar, like A-Xien and A-Li, could one add it to Lan WanJi like A-Zhan or A-Wanji? Would that ramp up the cute factor or just be incredibly rude? I'm only asking because Wei WuXien giving Lan WanJi pet names and addresses gives me life.
Hello there! I’ll answer to the best of my ability but again I’m no expert on the matter of naming convention and classical Chinese is quite different from contemporary Chinese (just look at the sheer complexity of the Chinese honourifics wiki page). Feel free to correct me if I get something wrong.
Following the previous discussion on the use of courtesy names, @bridges-you-cross made a good point that it would be highly unusual to call someone just by their given name if it’s comprised of a single character. (That’s true within Chinese-speaking communities but many of my Chinese friends just tell people who don’t speak the language to call them by their given name even if’s a single character for simplicity’s sake.)
One way to call someone you know well whose given name has one character is to add either a diminutive prefix or suffix.
A possibility is -er (儿) as a suffix as said above. Wen Ruohan calls his son ‘Chao-Er’ in the donghua (ep.10). As Er means individually ‘child’, that’s a suffix that is used on a younger person. Also, that’s a phoneme that is more prevalent in the varieties of northern dialects (like Mandarin Chinese) than in southern ones (in modern times, the Beijing variety of Mandarin often slips -er/-r at the end of some words).
In Mo Dao Zu Shi, it’s mainly the prefix A- (阿) that is used as a form of endearment. It’s more common in southern dialects and it’s generally associated with either the second character of a name or with a one-character name but it seems that it can be employed in front of a two-character name though I haven’t really seen such use. Jiang Yanli calls her younger brothers ‘A-Xian’ and ‘A-Cheng’. Lan Xichen calls Jin Guangyao ‘A-Yao’. Jin Guangyao calls his wife ‘A-Su’. In one of the audio drama extra, Lan Qiren calls Lan Wangji ‘A-Zhan’ when he was a small child. Jin Ling is called ‘A-Ling’ by his parents and uncles.
Where my family is from, an alternative that is used the same way as A- is the prefix Xiao- (小) which means individually ‘little’ but I’m not sure how widespread it is. It’s more common to use in front of a surname as a familiar form of address with someone younger in modern China.
An affectionate and cutesy nickname can also be coined by doubling the second character of a name. At one point, Jiang Yanli calls Wei Wuxian ‘Xianxian’ when he was acting childishly (ch.71).
As to whether a form of address is cute or rude, it depends on the relationship between the two persons and how close they are. It’s fine with a child but using a diminutive unprompted can be deemed overly familiar.
