郑/鄭 Generation Name List

David,

I too have been looking for my previously published generational family poem. See this post: Family Poem^click. I have been unsuccessful. Others have found theirs poems at their ancestral home in China, in their jiapu, or on gravestones of ancestors.

I am fortunate to own the jiapu of my clan. How I recently obtained my jiapu^click. Unfortunately, the poem is not listed.

Working backwards, I then tried to follow particular lineages, or some combination of lineages within my clan, where I might deduce some pattern of names to reproduce a generational poem. However, I could not discern a regular pattern or a continuity of usage.

I have come to the conclusion that my clan did not follow a tradition of using a generational poem. Every clan is different, and the use of a generational poem might not have been important. The last place I have not looked was in my ancestral hall in Zhongshan.

If you cannot find your poem, consider these axioms. The poem is commonly rewritten or modified by the progenitor to a new geographical location. As progenitor to the New World from China, you or your ancestor has every right to make your own generational poem and form a new tradition. If you or your same generational relatives do not already share similar names, consider changing the names to emphasize this tradition of family poems. The Chinese in the past had no qualms changing their given names. There are milk names, the Zi name, Hao names, etc. See Chinese Names^click . Rarely are Chinese characters part of the official governmental record in the New World. Install a new set of names and offer this poem as a tradition to your descendants. You probably are closest to the actual progenitor to the New World.

Of course, it would be nice to carry on a tradition of a previously published generational poem. But if that option is not possible, consider establishing a new poem.

IMHO

Doug