The characters combine perfectly: his given name, “Brilliant,” reflects the legendary intellect associated with the “Zhuge” family name.
Zhuge Liang's fame comes less from dry historical records and more from the epic 14th-century novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. In the book, he is portrayed as a larger-than-life figure capable of predicting the weather, devising inescapable traps, and outwitting every opponent. He embodies the Confucian ideal of a scholar-official (士大夫, shìdàfū): a man of immense learning who uses his talents not for personal gain, but in loyal service to a virtuous ruler (in his case, Liu Bei, 刘备). Stories of his exploits, such as “Borrowing the East Wind” (草船借箭) and the “Empty Fort Strategy” (空城计), are as well-known in China as the story of the Trojan Horse is in the West.
While he was a real person, his name functions as a common noun or adjective in modern speech.