In the first year of reign in 210 BCE, Huhai was made the Second Emperor of Qin at the age of 19. His regnal name Qin Er Shi () means "Second Generation of the Qin". It is a contraction of Qin Ershi Huangdi (), the "Second-Generation Emperor of the Qin". The name followed the nomenclature established by the First Emperor, who envisioned an empire that would last for ten thousand generations and for his successors to bear the aspiration in their reign names. The practice ended abruptly with the third emperor Ziying, when Qin dynasty was overturned by Chu and Han.