The Daoguang Emperor was born in the Forbidden City, Beijing, in 1782, and was given the name Mianning (). It was later changed to Minning () when he became emperor. The first character of his private name was changed from "Mian" to "Min" to avoid the relatively common character "Mian". This novelty was introduced by his grandfather, the reigning Qianlong Emperor, who thought it inappropriate to use a common character in the emperor's private name due to the longstanding practice of naming taboo.