Talk:Shi Huang Di/@comment-32013951-20181128155713/@comment-33249609-20181128183735

Sigh. Alright here we go. If this can sort things up for some people:

秦始皇(Qin Shi Huang) is what people usually refer to him as nowadays. It literally translates to "The Emperor of Beginning of Qin Dynasty" / "The First Emperor of Qin". Because he is the founder of Qin dynasty, and arguably the first one to unify China.

始皇帝(Shi Huang Di) is a bit similar. It's a title rather than his actual name. Akin to 秦始皇(Qin Shi Huang), it means that he's the "Emperor of Beginning" or "Founding Emperor". These two titles can be used somewhat interchangably. I'm assuming they used that as his "name" because historically, people do not refer to him as "Qin Shi Huang" because at the time, it was during Qin dynasty reigns. Ergo there's little reason to refer to him as... the emperor of Qin. It's a given.

Putting the titles aside, his actual name is 嬴政 (Ying Zheng). That is his, in fate-speak, "True Name". 嬴(Ying) is his family name while 政 (Zheng) is his personal name. So in westerner custom/naming convention, he would've been referred to as Zheng Ying, because the flip of surname and last name.

"Names" can mean a lot of things. I hope this brief explanation has cleared some things for people.