posthumous name

posthumous name (plural posthumous names)

1. (historical) A respectful alias used in Chinese or sometimes more broadly East Asian contexts to refer to a dead person, particularly royalty.

   Coordinate terms: art name, courtesy name, era name, temple name

   The posthumous names of early Chinese rulers were often variations of a few words like "the martial one" (武), "the literary one" (文), and "the filial one" (孝), but by the Tang they had become so long that people began using rulers' temple names or era names instead.