Are there distinctions between the various terms for "Confucius" (孔子, 孔丘, 仲尼)? There seems to be at least three ways of saying "Confucius" in Chinese:


孔子 (Kǒngzǐ)
孔丘 (Kǒngqiū)
仲尼 (Zhòngní) with some variants:


字仲尼 (Zì Zhòngní)
孔仲尼 (Kǒng Zhòngní)



(There's possibly more I'm unaware of.)

I'm just wondering if these are all the same, or if there's some distinction between them.

Question: Are there distinctions between the various terms for "Confucius"?
First you need to know about how people were named at that time. Back then one's name had three parts:

姓 (family name), 名 (given name), 字(also given name, but doesn't exist today)

孔 was his 姓, 丘 was his 名, and 仲尼 was his 字.

I don't need to explain the family name much. As for 名 and 字, the difference is that 字 is more formal than 名. And one often calls himself by 名 to show modesty and calls the one he is talking to or mentioning by 字 to show respect.

Finally, "子" is a suffix after the family name to mention someone who is well-respected (for example, a teacher, a well-educated person, etc., and Confucius was both and more).