Laozi {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|au|d|z|ə}} is the modern [[pinyin]] [[romanization of Chinese|romanization]] of {{lang|zh|{{linktext|老子}}}}. It is not a personal name, but rather an [[Chinese honorifics|honorific title]], meaning "'old"' or "'venerable master"'. TheIts structure of the name exactly matches that of other ancient Chinese philosophersphilosophersm, such as ''[[Kongzi]]'', ''[[Mencius|Mengzi]]'', ''and [[Zhuang Zhou|Zhuangzi]]'', &c.<ref>{{citation |contribution=The "Ancient Child" Fallacy |date=29 December 2016 |last=Lin |first=Derek |contribution-url=https://taoism.net/ancient-child/ |url=https://taoism.net |title=Taoism.net |publisher= |location= }}</ref>
Traditional accounts give Laozi the [[Chinese name|personal name]] '''Li Er''' ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|李|耳}}}}, ''Lǐ Ěr''), whose [[Old Chinese]] pronunciation [[reconstruction of Old Chinese|has been reconstructed]] as {{transl|och|*''[[consonant|C]].rə[[glottal stop|ʔ]]rəʔ [[consonant|C]].nə[[glottal stop|ʔ]]''nəʔ}}.<ref name=baxsag>{{cite web |last1=Baxter |first1=William |first2=Laurent |last2=Sagart |url=http://ocbaxtersagart.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/BaxterSagartOCbyMandarinMC2014-09-20.pdf |title=Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction |date=20 September 2014 |access-date=1 May 2018}}</ref> [[Li (surname 李)|Li]] is a common [[Chinese surname]] meaning "'[[plum]]"' or plum tree; there is a legend tying Laozi's birth to a plum tree.<ref>{{Cite web <!-- Citation bot no -->|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Laozi|title=Laozi |work= Britannica|date= 2009 |last1= Ames |first1= Roger T. |last2= Kaltenmark |first2= Max | author1-link= Roger T. Ames }}</ref> Laozi has long been identified with the persona '''Lao Dan''' ({{lang|zh|老{{linktext|聃}}}}, ''Lǎo Dān'').{{sfnp|Luo|2004|p=118}}{{sfnp|Kramer|1986|p=118}}{{sfnp|Chan|2000|p=2}} ''Dan'' similarly means "Long-Ear" or "the Long-Eared One". The character {{lang|zh|{{linktext|耳}}}} is the Chinese word for "'ear"'.<ref>{{Cite web | script-work= zh:Zdic 漢典 |url= https://www.zdic.net/hant/%E8%80%B3 | script-title=zh:耳字 }}</ref>
Laozi is recorded bearing the [[courtesy name]] '''Boyang''' ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|伯|陽}}}}, ''Bóyáng''), whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as [[reconstruction of Old Chinese{{transl|och|*]]''p[[Pharyngealization|ˤrak]]pˤrak laŋ''}}.<ref name=baxsag/> The character {{lang|zh|伯}} was the title of the eldest son born to the primary wife, or an uncle of the father's family who was older than one's father, also used as a [[Chinese nobility|noble title]] indicating an aristocratic lineage head with rulership over a small to medium domain, and as a general mark of respect. The character {{lang|zh|陽}} is ''[[yang (concept)|yang]]'', the solar and masculine life force in Taoist belief. Lao Dan seems to have been used more generally, however, including by [[Sima Qian]] in his ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'',<ref name="LDR">{{citation |last1=Rainey |first1=Lee Dian |title=Decoding Dao: Reading the ''Dao De Jing'' (''Tao Te Ching'') and the ''Zhuangzi'' (''Chuang Tzu'') |date=2013 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1118465677 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YNFiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT31 31] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNFiAgAAQBAJ |language=en }}.</ref> in the ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]]'',<ref name="LDR"/> and by some modern scholars.<ref>{{cite book | author-last= Fu | author-first= Charles Wei-hsun |editor-last1=Carr |editor-first1=Brian |editor-last2=Mahalingam |editor-first2=Indira |chapter= Daoism in Chinese Philosophy |title=Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134960583 |pages=497–519|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIwrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA497 |language=en }}</ref>
