Up until the T'ang and Sung, most name seals used the person's given name only. It was only after this period that seals engraved with courtesy names--such as Su Shih's "Tung-po Chu-jen" and Huang T'ing-chien's "Shan-yu Tao-jen" --began to appear.
別號印直至唐宋後才大量出現，如蘇軾「東坡居士」印、黃庭堅的「山谷道人」印等。明代石刻盛行，刻印方便，姓名別號印十分普遍。