西方人的名字.docVIP

西方人的名字 ? ? When Chinese English-learners ponder the choice of a Western name for themselves, the first thing they normally want to know is what each possible name means. Oddly, of all the factors governing the selection of names in the West,?meaning is probably the least important. This curiosity is exercised mainly by Westerners interested in knowing what their name happens to signify, and much less by parents seeking a good name for a child. 当中国的英语爱好者考虑给自己起个英文名字时，他们首先想知道的就是那些可选的名字所代表的意义。但是挺怪的是，在西方，在选择名字时要考虑的诸多因素中，意义恐怕是最不重要的一点。只是那些对自己名字的意义感兴趣的西方人才有探究的好奇心，而父母在给孩子 起名时则很少考虑名字的意义。 ???The factors that weigh most heavily in the choice of a name are?sound,fashion,?mental associations?and?family habit. Sound is preeminent: Nobody wants to impose a clumsy-sounding name on a child. Thus parents seek personal names that go well with the childs surname, making a euphonious whole. This involves not only consideration of the full form of the personal name, but also of the likely nickname. After all, that is the name the child will hear most frequently in casual modern American life, often to the virtual exclusion at the official full form. 西方人起名时最重要的考虑因素是发音、时尚、联和和家庭习惯。发音是最重要的：没有人想给孩子起个拗口的名字。于是家长就会挑个与姓搭救得很好，整体听起来很悦耳的名字，这不仅在起全名时这样考虑，起爱称时也是如此。毕竟，爱称是孩子在现代美国生活非正式场合中最经常听到的，而正式的全称几乎根本听不到。 ?????? In?America?fashion is also extraordinarily important. The basic names that people give their children remain fairly stable from century to century, but in recent decades certain names have appeared suddenly, become amazingly common, and then after a few short years have fallen almost entirely out of use. A couple of current examples are the name Brandon for boys and Ashley for girls--wildly popular names that have no history in?America. Very often names of such meteoric popularity spring from?Hollywood?or the silly daytime soap operas that so many Americans follow from day to day. Such fashionable new girls names as Kimberly, Tiffany, Britany, Megan, Heather and Kayla are widely thought