Orient Name › Characters › 典

What 典 means in a Chinese namediǎn

280 real names in the 1.14M-name corpus♂ 272 · ♀ 88 strokesdata & verification
典diǎn · B
tier B

重要的文书与法度;引申为典范。

The weighty document; the standard a thing is measured against.

1 处原典 · 1 部典籍 · 全部可核

立得住的法度 The standard that holds

维清缉熙,文王之典。

Clear and continuing, the statutes of King Wen.

诗经 · 维清 · our translation
The 典 here is the body of rules King Wen set: what a later age could still be measured against. 「典」在这里是文王定下的法度——名字用「典」,取的是这个「定得下来、后人照着做」的分量。
典范典雅经典典籍典雅经典典之文典
In a name

典 in a name is not stiffness; it is having something to point to when you are asked why.

「典」不是古板,是「有据可依」。