Religion
Names

A man is given a Buddhist name when he is initiated into monkshood. His original name will be disused. They are often given a Buddhist title by the religious authority, the government or the imperial court when the monks and nuns had attained distinction in their religious cultivation. The title conferred is then used together with their Buddhist name. A such person is Xuan Zhuang, a learned monk who traveled to India and translated many Buddhist scriptures. His original name was Chen Yi and after he was given a title, his name was Monk Tripitaka. Buddhist names are often made up of words connected with Buddhist teachings. And should a monk resume a secular life, he will abandon his Buddhist name or title and use his original secular name again. There are cases where people, although they are not monks, adopted a Buddhist name, such scenario often happen when a person is initiated into monkshood for a short period of time, such as a month, as a community service or as a service to the country, such a place would be Thailand where boys had to leave home for two weeks a year to live as a monk to personally feel the pain of being a monk and at 18 years old, Thai boys who are unable to enter National Service to protect the country because of health problems, would be called upon to be ordained as a monk for the same period of time as in National Service. Another scenario, much less common would be that a person is a disciple of a monk, although he may not be a monk.

In the alternative scene, Chinese who are Christians or in a religion where a foreign name is required, would have a foreign name as his or her given name, while retaining their surname. Chinese Priests or Bishop would also certainly have a foreign name, while having a "Bishop" or "Preacher" title in front of their own name, however such a title is not formalized in their Identity Cards.