Here’s a short article about how monastic names come about. Just so you know. 
The surname adopted in the Chinese Mahayana monastic tradition is “釋”. It comes from the “釋” in the Buddha’s name “釋迦牟尼佛”, Shakyamuni, meaning the sage of the Shakyan clan.
My ordination name was 釋智行 Shi ZhiXing and it was given by my late teacher, and ordination Master, Master Miu King 上妙下境老和尚 when I was given the “going forth” in 2002.
In Singapore, I’m commonly known by 釋傳觀 Shi ChuanGuan. This name was given by my mentor Master, Ven. Kwang Sheng when I took mentorship under him in 2006.
So, 智-Zhi and 傳-Chuan is the ‘generation’ character. Under the lineage stemming from the Buddha to the Chinese masters, the Chinese sangha adopted the naming convention in use by the Chinese. so a monastic from a certain lineage would have the lineage / generation (middle) character that follows a certain order. Based on one’s lineage / generation character, one could trace your Dharma lineage accordingly.
行-Xing and 觀Guan is the ‘name’ character. Depending on the master or community, there may be some naming convention in place.
IMHO, this elaborate system can be . . . → Read More: FYI: Naming Trivia for monastics
