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What 元 means in a Chinese nameyuán

7,461 real names in the 1.14M-name corpus♂ 6,588 · ♀ 8734 strokesdata & verification
元yuán · B
tier B

始、首、大。

Beginning, head, the largest of a kind.

1 处原典 · 1 部典籍 · 全部可核

方叔元老
方叔元老 The one at the head

方叔元老，克壮其犹。

Fangshu, the elder of elders, was able to make his plans great.

诗经 · 采芑 · our translation
Not a reign name: the head of a group, the largest of its kind. 「元老」是众老之首。「元」本来不是年号，是「首、大」——名字取的是这一个。
元本元老元之元亨开元
In a name

First in rank, not first in time.

「元」是首，是大。

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