论文总字数：28421字

摘 要

如今，几乎每个人都有自己的姓名——一个用于区别个人或其他群体的重要标识。 作为人类社会发展进步的独特产物，姓名象征着一种文化现象。不同的姓名文化隐含了不同的民族发展历史、宗教信仰、文化传统、价值观念、思维方式等信息，因而通过了解一个国家的姓名文化有助于我们了解该国的总体文化和风俗习惯。本文通过列举丰富的中英姓名的例子，旨在从姓名的构成、起源入手，重点分析两者在取名习俗上的差异，突出中英姓名的文化差异以加深对中英文化的理解，促进中英跨文化交流。

关键词：结构；起源；取名习俗；文化

Contents

1. Introduction...............................................................................................1
2. Differences on Names between English-speaking Countries and China..........................................................................................................2

2.1 Different Structures of the English Name and Chinese Name…………...2

2.2 Different Origins of the Surnames .............................................................3

1. Differences on Naming Practices.............................................................6

3.1 Religious Beliefs Vs Superstition...............................................................6

3.2 Weak Hierarchy Concept Vs Strict Hierarchy Concept.............................7

3.3 Arbitrary Use of Words Vs Limited Use of Words ...................................8

3.4 Reflecting Personal Preferences Vs Reflecting Social Background...........9

4. Conclusion...............................................................................................11

Works Cited...................................................................................................12

1. Introduction

Nowadays, as a result of globalization, cross-cultural communication has become more popular. The success of Beijing Olympic Game exposed a wonderful and spectacular culture to friends all over the world. Similarly, the scattered Confucius Colleges in many countries over the world have been introducing China’s long and rich culture all the time. Being the inevitable trend of the social development, cross-cultural communication will be more common and frequent in the future, therefore the importance of understanding cultural differences among different countries should not be neglected, especially the culture of names.

When we establish interpersonal contact with somebody, we all start with introducing our names, as we all have a different identification--name. The definition of name is “a word or phrase by which a person, thing, or class of things is known, called, or spoken to or of” (E.Agnes, 2003: 133). Thus name has been the simple, direct and useful symbol mark used for distinguishing people or other things in human society. But where did names spring from? Why do people have different names? What are the meanings behind the names? These might be the typical questions haunting us. However, since ancient times, there have been numerous studies on names culture carried out by scholars around the world. For example, Onomastics, as a separate subject, appeared in the western country long ago. While in China, according to the historical records, scholars first studied names culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty, then in modern times, more and more scholars devoted themselves into this field under the influence of freedom of mind and cultural trend. For instance, works studied on the first names include How did the First Names Come into Being, Introduction of Chinese First Names; works on the given names study includes ZhaoQianSunLi—the Chinese Names Culture; and works studied on the ways of naming include Naming Read, Art of Naming. It’s undeniable that those works integrate great information and entertainment and are also very available. However, their research areas in general are too broad to delve into in-depth study, let alone study by combining with other countries’ names from the cross-cultural perspective.

Culture is everything and everywhere (Xu Lisheng, 2008:5), it is believed that having a good understanding of people’s names will contribute to the communication between people and help build up good interpersonal relationship. Otherwise misunderstanding can be unavoidable. Therefore it is important for us to have a good knowledge of different name culture. In this thesis, cultural differences of names between China and English-speaking countries will be studied. The thesis goes like that, the first part is the introduction, the second part mainly deals with the differences on names between English-speaking countries and China. The third part is about the differences on naming practices and the last part is the conclusion.

1. Differences on Names between English-speaking Countries and China

Basically speaking, differences on names between English-speaking countries and China firstly reflect on the structures and origins, which are closely related to the historical background and cultural value of both areas. Just as Donald Lines Jacobus, the father of American genealogy, put it, “the trend of history generally can be reflected by name” (M.V, 1996: 24).

2.1 Different Structures of the English Name and Chinese Name

A complete English/Chinese name is composed by the surname and the given name, but the structure and the order are quite different between the two.

2.1.1 Structure of English Name

An English name is composed by two parts or three parts, namely given name amp; surname or given name amp; middle name amp; surname. Generally speaking, most western people only have one given name (also called the first name or baptismal name), it is usually given by the church (sometimes by parents) at the time the new born baby accepts baptism (Du Xuezeng, 1999:24). Take Henry Smith for instance, Henry is the given name while Smith is the surname. On top of that, some people still have middle names between their given names and the surnames. For example, Thomas Alva Edison, Alva is the middle name usually given by the parents or relatives who cherish the child very much. However, the middle name which reflects the kinship can be only used for dealing with the paperwork or signature, it can’t be accepted as a legal name, so people never use it in court.

Still, however, we might have ever encountered the complicated names which compose by at least four parts, such as the name of big-name football star David Robert Joseph Beckham. Actually, this is a less common structure of English name, the structure is the given name amp; the second name amp; the third name amp;……amp; the surname. Except the given name and surname, the rest of names are usually given by their parents for some purposes, missing someone, for instance.

2.1.2 Structure of Chinese Name

In China, the surname is given the first place and the given name the second, namely surname amp; given name. Such as, Zhou Congguang. Zhou is the surname, and Congguang is the given name.

Actually, there is still another kind of structure of name reflecting family hierarchy. It’s the surname amp; generation amp; given name or surname amp; given name amp; generation. It means that people in the same generation of a clan use the same word in the middle or the last place of their names. It can not only distinguish the status of a generation in a clan but also avoid the name repetition problem with their elders. In general, this word can be used for about twenty years, then it needs to change to another word for the next generation. Today, however, with the development of the society and the increased mobility of population, family concept of people has gradually faded, generation is no longer considered to be as important as before.

Structure difference of name between English-speaking countries and China just reflects people’s different values toward individualism and collectivism. People from English-speaking countries consider individualism to be superior to collectivism which just indicates the fact that western people have a strong consciousness of independence and individuality. However, Chinese people are on the contrary. Patriarchal clan is regarded as supremacy in Chinese superstitious concept, hence bringing glory on forefathers has long been the responsibility of descendants. Moreover, Chinese traditional culture encourages people to place collectivism and collective interests above their personal interests, so that’s the reason why the surname reflecting their clans, groups or ancestors is given the first position.

2.2 Different Origins of Surnames

From the time perspective, Chinese surnames have longer history than English surnames. English surnames only started to be applied in the 11^th century while the Chinese ones can be traced back to the matriarchal clan society. They have different origins.

2.2.1 The Origins of English Surnames

English surname is the name after the given name (Li Zhonghua, 2001:5). According to the records, names of people in ancient English-speaking countries were rather simple. They only had given names, but not the surnames that could stand for clans (Xing Fuyi, 2000:41). This situation didn’t change until the intrusion of Norman who brought their surname system to English-speaking countries. From then on, English surname system became integrated gradually (Du Xuezeng, 1999:23). Generally, English surnames originate from the following aspects.

a. Ancestors’ professions

For example, Smith originally referred to the person processing metal, such as Silver Smith, black Smith; Miller used to refer to the people working in the mill. Others surnames like Cooper, Barber, Clark, Cook, Taylor, Baker originated from different types of professions.

b. Evolution of elders’ names

It’s the most common source of English surnames. Such as Johnson, Wilson, Anderson, Jackson, etc. Those kinds of surnames are usually awarded by church, which means the kindness of God, deeply love of parents to their children or showing the fact that they are sapiential and pious believers of their religions.

c. Macroscopic features of a person

Such as Campbell( wry mouth), Longman(people tall), Small( people skinny), Red(hair’s color),etc.

d. Ethnic characteristics

Prefix with Mac or Mc like MacArthur, Macmillan, McDonald usually refers to the descendants of Scotland; prefix with letter “O” like O’Brien, O’Connel represents the descendants of Ireland.

e. Terrain/Landform of residences

Such as Lake, Brook, River, Field, Hill, London, Washington, Heywood(green forest), Bloomfield, etc, all derived from the features of terrain/landform of the residences people lived nearby.

2.2.2 The Origins of Chinese Surnames

In Chinese history, surnames experienced a certain period of evolution. About 5,000 years ago, surnames, symbolized the title of homologous clans, first originated in matriarchal clan society--the period when people only knew their mothers (Lv Shuxiang, 2002:2).They were gradually divided into several branches with respective titles during the ancient times and pre-Qin period, then the nee-- the derivation of surname came into being. When it came to the Zhou dynasty, surnames and nee became the symbols of hierarchy, only the nobles had the right to use them and the civilians could only use given names. During the Warring States period, surnames experienced an unprecedented development due to the implementation of the enfeoffment system, so at the end of this period, people used surnames much more than nee. However, people began to use nee again in Han dynasty. As there was no difference between the nee and surnames anymore, people started to combine them as a whole, called the family names or surnames. This combination laid the foundation of Chinese surnames, which has employed ever since (Zhuang Jianling, 2002:3).

Generally speaking, Chinese surnames originated from the following aspects.

a. The surnames of their ancestors styling themselves

For instance, the surname Lin(林)was from the Chinese emperor called Zhou Pingwang who styled himself Lin kai(林开), Kong(孔)was from the Fu Fuhe’s grandchild who called himself Kong Fu(孔父).

b. Names of manors /countries

Such as the surnames Lu(鲁),Chu(楚),Wei(魏),Qi(齐),Han(韩),Wu(吴) were respectively from the according countries or manors during the Warring States period.

c.Historical official positions/ professions

A compound surname Si Ma(司马)in China referred to the army commander; Si Kong(司空) ,the judicial official; Si Tu(司徒), the person managing domestic affairs. Besides, names representing ancestors’ professions, such as, Le(乐), used to refer to the musicians composing for their emperors in the palace ; Tao(陶), used to refer to the person making pottery, were also used as surnames.

d. Names of totems /clans’ titles

Totem, a kind of plant or animal, was considered as the clan protector worshiped by ancient people. For example, the mascots of China-dragon(龙)and phoenix(凤)have been used for surnames. Adopting clans’ titles as surnames includes Mu Rong(慕容), Shang(商),Xia(夏),Zhou(周), etc.

e. Emperors granted

Being granted the surnames by emperors used to be considered as the supreme honor and only the ministers who had performed meritorious service for the country deserved for it. Generally speaking, surnames granted were nations’ surnames. For example, the national hero Zheng Chenggong was awarded the surname Zhu(朱)by the Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. More like Zhang (张),Li (李), Huang (黄) were granted by emperors.

1. Differences on Naming Practices

As a characteristic of human civilization, naming practice plays a role of being the carrier and mirror of national culture. It embodies a series of religious culture, ethnic and folk culture that are closely related to the social psychology as well as tradition. According to analysis, differences on naming practices between English-speaking countries and China mainly can be found from the following four aspects.

3.1 Religious Beliefs Vs Superstition

People in English-Speaking countries believe in different religions (mostly in Christianity), so adopting the names of figures in religious legends/ mythologies is the main source of naming. They are mainly the names of saints or Gods in the Greek mythology (Roman mythology included) and the Bible. For example, Nicola means the winner in Greek, its prefix--Nica / Nico, the name of goddess of Victory in Greek mythology, is now widely used as girl’s name. What’s more, the well- known sports brand Nike is also one of the abbreviation of Nica / Nico. Besides, David, delightfulness in Hebrew, is the name of king David of ancient Israel. More like Peter, which means honest, brave and strong person, is the name of Jesus’s disciple--St.Peter.

In China, names usually involve superstitious elements. Naming by using what is called the eight characters that represent the year, month, day and hour of a person’s date of birth in the traditional lunar calendar is the most common way adopted by parents.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：28421字