Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames – ‘Dog’, ‘Pig’ – to ward off bad luck

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

Yan, A. (2026, October 15). Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames – ‘Dog’, ‘Pig’ – to ward off bad luck. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3370937/ancient-chinese-families-gave-babies-humble-nicknames-dog-pig-ward-bad-luck?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-15 · by Alice Yan

Quick Summary

Chinese parents historically gave babies humble or even vulgar nicknames like “Dog” or “Pig,” believing that these names would ward off bad luck and ensure the child's health and longevity in a time of poor medical care and low life expectancy. Some contemporary Chinese believe these traditional names should be preserved as meaningful blessings.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-15, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames like “Dog” or “Pig” to ward off bad luck and ensure their children would grow up healthy, according to a recent article in the South China Morning Post. This practice dates back to ancient times when medical technology was limited and people’s average lifespans were short. Some believe these nicknames carry parents’ heartfelt blessings and should be preserved despite sounding humble or even unflattering to people from other cultures. The use of animal names such as “Dog” or “Pig” was intended to discourage evil spirits by making the child appear less desirable, thereby protecting them from harm.

Written for “Ancient Chinese Baby Nicknames” on 2026-10-15, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 81107 · logged 2026-10-15

Story

📰 Ancient Chinese Baby Nicknames
Other · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
29%
2 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Other
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 2309 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Alice Yan
17 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Some of these may surprise people from other cultures because they sound humble or even unflattering.
2026-10-15 · mixed framing · Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames – ‘Dog’, ‘Pig’ – to ward off bad luck
🔮 However, no institution was willing to accept her as a student due to her age, prompting her to take matters into her own hands.
2026-10-05 · mixed framing · Chinese ‘Coffee Grandma’ learns brewing to save son’s cafe, inspires female independence
🔮 China ‘living Buddha’ honoured for US$9 million donation after saving every cent for charity Wang is leaving no inheritance to his children, having informed them that his wealth will continue to be donated even after his passing A 98-year-old man in eastern China has garnered widespread praise for his remarkable philanthropy, which includes donations totalling 60 million yuan (US$9 million), while leading an exceptionally frugal life himself. Wang Chunwen, a resident of Ninghai county in Zhejiang province, has been honoured with the China Charity Award by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the highest accolade in the country to recognise significant contributions to charitable efforts.
2026-09-10 · assertive framing · China ‘living Buddha’ honoured for US$9 million donation after saving every cent for charity
Also by Alice Yan
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 17 articles by Alice Yan →

Topics

Chinese

Subjects

Chinese NORP · 3× Dog PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames – ‘Dog’, ‘Pig’ – to ward off bad luck Some believe these humble nicknames carry parents’ heartfelt blessings and should be preserved
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15
🔮 Some of these may surprise people from other cultures because they sound humble or even unflattering.
2026-10-15 · South China Morning Post
Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames – ‘Dog’, ‘Pig’ – to ward off bad luck · mixed framing

Claims (7 extracted, 2 hedged)

Ancient Chinese families gave babies humble nicknames – ‘Dog’, ‘Pig’ – to ward off bad luck Some believe these humble nicknames carry parents’ heartfelt blessings and should be preserved asserted
nicknames → give → blessings
Like people elsewhere in the world, Chinese people often have nicknames in addition to their official names. asserted
people → have → names
Some of these may surprise people from other cultures because they sound humble or even unflattering. uncertain
they → surprise → cultures
Chinese parents have traditionally given their children humble, sometimes vulgar, nicknames – occasionally using animal names such as “Dog” or “Pig.” asserted
parents → give → Dog
The practice dates back to ancient times. asserted
practice → date → times
Parents believed that the humbler a nickname sounded, the better, as it might help ensure their child grew up healthy. uncertain
child → believe → ?
This practice was a desperate measure in ancient times, when medical technology was limited and people’s average lifespans were short. asserted
lifespans → limit → times
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