中英文姓名比较英文..

A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Names中文摘要姓名是人在交往过程中的代码,是人类社会中最基本的人际称谓,也是“标志社会结构中的一种血缘关系和区别个人的标志符号”。

姓名是人类文明特有的现象,是所属文化系统的载体和镜象。

姓氏的来源和人名取法受一定社会的影响和制约。

由于各民族的历史、宗教、文化传统、风俗习惯等密切相关,因此姓名是各民族文化不可分割的一部分,它既反映了各民族文化的共同特点,也体现了各民族的独特文化现象。

对比研究各民族之间姓名的特点,探究各民族之间独特的姓名文化的渊源,姓名的结构特点和取名的方式,揭示中英文化的异同,增进彼此之间的了解,促进中英文化的相互了解和交流。

关键词：中文姓名；英文姓名；对比研究AbstractName is the code in the process of people’ communication, and the basic title of human society, is also a symbol denotation that signs the kin in society living and difference between people. Name is a special phenomenon of human culture, is the carrier for its cultural system. The origin of name and its custom also are affected and restricted by some factors in our society. Because of different national history, religion, tradition and custom, all the factors and so on, they have closely relation, so name is an integrate part of every national culture, it not only reflect the common on every national culture, but also embody the special cultural phenomenon from different nation. A comparative study on the characteristic of name from different cultures, to research the special cultural origin of different names between different nations, the structure character of name and the naming ways, to display the similarities and differences between Chinese and English culture, to enhance the acquaintance with each other, to accelerate the cultural communicate with each other.Keywords: Chinese name; English name; comparative study;Contents1 Chapter ⅠIntroduction (1)1.1 Definition of name (1)1.2 Relevant information of the study (1)1.3 The Significance of Name in Cross-cultural Communication (1)2 Chapter ⅡThe similarities and differences in Chinese and English personal names (3)2.1 The structure of Chinese and English personal names (3)2.2 The origin of Chinese and English family names (3)2.2.1 The similarities in the origin of Chinese and English name: (4)2.2.2 The difference in the origin of Chinese and English names (5)2.3 Naming customs of Chinese and English names and the cultural connotation reflected in the literaryworks (6)3 Chapter ⅢThe influence of deep-going cultural connotation and different social cultures on Chinese and English names (8)3.1 The culture generality in Chinese and English culture (8)3.2 The different cultural connotation (10)4 Chapter ⅣConclusion (11)5 Reference (11)1Chapter ⅠIntroduction1.1Definition of nameName is a sign for people. It is the gather of the given name and individual name. In China antiquity, the given name and the individual name is used lonely. At present they are called “name “gathered. Name is an appellation for a people and a representation.1.2Relevant information of the studyThe objective of this research is to increase people’s cultural awareness by informing both Chinese and English native speakers of the knowledge of names in both languages and cultures and eventually improves the communication between them. The research is practical in intent. The underlying assumption is that this research will help people appreciate other peop le’s culture and better understand the meanings of names and revise their ways of interacting by taking more account of cultural differences when people with Chinese or English cultural background encounter and communicate with each other.1.3The Significance of Name in Cross-cultural CommunicationTo know a society usually starts from the contact with its people，The contact with its people begins with the names, we tell to each other attach first encounter. We all form distinct impressions when we first hear a name. Perhaps we respond because of the sound of the word or because of mental associations we make，but very definitely an image flash is in the back of our minds simply from the name itself. Therefore，name is not only a mark or a symbol that distinguishes people from each other but also full of cultural messages of action such as language，history，geography，religion，customs，values and class status，etc，.Therefore，as a carrier of culture，names earn serve as living fossils for the study.Robert L. Shook，an American business man and writer，once conducted a survey in which he separately asked twenty male friends of his if they would take out Harriett Finkelstein，a secretary who was coming in from out of town. Eighteen out of the twenty told him they were not available for the blind date. A month later he asked the same men if they would like a blind date with Jill Connors，another secretary from out of town. Influenced by the name alone，sixteen expressed interest in Jill and wanted to know more about her. Poor Harriett missed her chance for blind dates imply because of the image her name suggested. (Shook，1977:l).Obviously the names in the above example bring about different responses from westerns but most of the Chinese People. They may means nothing but symbols. It is the same case for a foreigner when he hears or reads a Chinese name in Ping Yin. With the globalization and pluralism facing people all of the world，peoplehave more and more opportunity to interact with each other and It is the right time for people to take serious of each other and learn to appreciate each other's culture. For example more and more foreigners who study or work in China would like to have a Chinese name. Usually the name is decided by Pronunciation，which sounds similar to a word that might have an elegant connotation. However，some of the names，totally away from their pronunciations，focus on culturally-loaded meanings while some others are simply translated from their original pronunciations. But the problem is that some of the names，obviously without proper thinking or owing to the lack of cultural background information，are translated very awkwardly or even as a taboo in Chinese culture. For example，the English name pearl is translated as Zhenzhu (珍珠)，with the exactly the same meaning in Chinese. As we know the name Zhenzhu(珍珠) nowadays in China sounds old-fashioned or countrified. And Lily，when translated as Bai-he-hua(百合花) in Chinese，would immediately remind people of the taboo-death，since Chinese are profoundly influenced by Buddhism in which Bai-he-hua(百合花) is some how a symbol of death. Chinese people also have problems when deciding to have an English name. Therefore，from the cross-cultural communication perspective，names become confusing and complicated to those who are from different cultural backgrounds.From the examples mentioned above and the differences among them，we may come to these assumptions that problems concerning names in communication which leave Chinese and English people feeling puzzled，curious or funny are often caused by culturally shaped underlying differences in perception and interpretation of various phenomena which cross-cultural communicators are often unaware of; And that people from different countries have formed their own particular naming systems and they tend to transfer this knowledge directly to naming systems of other cultures. By discussing the features of both Chinese and English names and presenting historical and cultural factors that influence people when they choose a name or hear a name，this theist probes into the name phenomena in various aspects in both British and Chinese cultures so as to alert people to the cultural awareness and to promote the better understanding as well as better communication among people from different cultural backgrounds.From the teaching perspective，this research may help both teachers and students better understand the characters in literary works，whose names are often chosen with purposes by their authors. The researcher positively believes that most of the obstacles to understanding can be over come with motivation，knowledge and appreciation of cultural diversity.2Chapter ⅡThe similarities and differences in Chinese and English personal names2.1The structure of Chinese and English personal namesThe composition of Chinese name is the family name before, and the given name back. But the English is exactly opposite; they put the given name before and the family name back. The structure form “family name + given name”reflect the Chinese cultural value tropism is collectivism which country affected by orient cultures. China has the history of more than two thousands feudality, under this society, the people more took attention on national conception, and namely the national family name was especially important. In normal living, the genes or the family’s conception played an important roles in their heart, and the emperor is the representative of genes conception, all the things in the country should depend on the concept of the emperor, so in the feudalistic society, not only the country but also the family, only can put the given name which stand for himself after the family name. So the orient name structure, especially the Chinese name structure are affected by long-time feudalistic society, it is the centralized embody of value tropism on country collectivistic. And the family name and given name is the character of Chinese culture.The structure form “given name+ family name” is the necessary result of English cultural individualism. The western cultures which was representative by Anglo-American countries pay attention to technology and freedom, upholding evidence, individual, substance and nonfigurative thinking ways, it includes the long-time democracy tradition that exist in many European countries such as England, attach more importance to individual action, uphold people should strive for success, then the individual action is more important than the group success. In western, given name--the sign of people became important then the family name. So the western names’structure was more affected by bourgeois humanism philosophic, its structure is the representation form of value tropism of western individualism.2.2The origin of Chinese and English family namesAt the point of time, we can see that the origin of Chinese clan has centuries-old history; this can track to the enatic society in antiquity. But English clan is used until A.D 11th century, its history is transitory. The origin of Chinese clan firstly come from the words “name”, name is composed by “ woman” and “living”, its meaning is people all feed by woman, this reflects the enatic society maybe the origin of name. And the research states that many antique family names were made up with the word “women”. Actually, family name is a code for an enatic society, through the research on a family name, we can clearly acquaint with the origin,development, flight, differentiation, flourish and downfall of a kin-group.The family name is a cultural mark for a religion, if you got the family name; it means you got the acceptation of the religion. In some contents, it is a mark for some social status and back group. There are the date’s states that the clan is evolved from the family name, and is the signs for a clan divided into many branches. Mr. Zhou gushing, the historian, whose research indicates that China anciently primly is a society by woman family name and man clan, family name is a kin signs of the same religion, and clan primly is the signs of the man header in man clan. Until the Qi’in time, male family name began to replace the female family name, they began to melt with each other, and then they have a general designation of family name. English family name began to be used at about 11th century, until the end of 16th century, it became perfect. But in fact, since from 14th century, western countries also begin to adopt male family name as his family name. As per the record in cyclopedia, family name came of noble families; the purpose of it is to make their family will live forever. Later as the development of society, the family name gains more and more aboard using, its gist also has more and more forms.2.2.1The similarities in the origin of Chinese and English name:They usually take the living place as their family name. Chinese family name mostly come from the living place most named after the burning place or living place or the natural environment or the region name as their family name. And many English family name also come from place-name, includes the living place and country name. Such as Wallace (the person comes from Cambrian), Norton (adopt from Northern Town), Whitney (place-name in England), Brookes (the person comes from mountain), Roebuck (the person lives in the place with fawn), Bradford (ford place was shaped by river).They also take the occupation as their family name. In Chinese, the sons should inherit their parent’s occupation or working, the way is the main approach for devaluating some craft or art in antique society, then the offspring naturally named the occupation or crafts as their family name. In English, the research of Leslie Dunking indicate some English family names comes from occupation, such as Smith, the holder of this family name original is an ironsmith in 14th century, and this occupation is an important industry in mid-century, the weapons in war and normal dead stocks can not be off this occupation. So Smith is the most frequent family name. There are some other similar ones: Tailor, Walker, Arch-err, Clerk, Turner, and Wight and so on.The origin of them is the ancestral family name. Chinese family names come from ancestral given name or clan name. But some of English names come from father’s given name. Most of English name come fromfather’s firstly name, its character is the end of the name “-son”, such as Harrison, Henry son, Dickinson, Henderson, Richardson, Gilbert-son, Gibson, Greg son, Gridiron, Dixon and so on.2.2.2The difference in the origin of Chinese and English namesSome of Chinese family names are from the name of homeland, but this way does not exist in English family names.Some of Chinese family names are from the official position, but this phenomenon does not exist in English family names. The countries: Xia, Shang, Zhou all had no official positions, so the offspring of these officers naturally named their family name after their ancestral official position.Some of Chinese name are obliged by the Emperors, but this way does not exist in English family names. Some of the Emperors in China history were in hope of honor and lasso the main Gen, they will favor them the “country family name”, and it in some content means the emperor’s relation. Such as the Tang dynasty in history which belongs to family Li, so “Li” is the country family name. At the same time, the emperors also will favor the political opponent or betrayer contumelious family names.Some of Chinese family names are from female, but it does not exist in English family names. In remote antiquity female clan society, the family name is used to indicate female relation. But some English family names are from the nicknames. In Greece language, hypocoristic means the nickname of pet, nickname is a true name and the name after nickname sounds like more friendliness, such as Pip is the nickname of Philip, Kit is the nickname of Christopher. The family names which made up by Henry include Harry, Harris, Haskin; the family names which made up by Gilbert include Gibbis, Gibbons, and Gibbin. The family names which made up by Gregory include Gregg, Grigg, Griggs, and Greig.Otherwise, there are differences in the original time and sequence of family names. It mainly represent in the English name appeared earlier than the family name. In contrast, Chinese family name appeared earlier than the name. This reflects the different social process between English and Chinese. The slavery family background is important to Chinese people, so the family name is more important than the given name in the Chinese people’s hearts; this also indicates the collectivism value tropism in China. Compared the history between slavery society and feudalism, the English slavery and feudalism is only a night-blooming cereus. Original English has no family name, and the name regulation was formed relatively late. This indicates there did not form the clan relation which made up with families, even a stable descendent emperor system. English did not finish feudalization, and there are many free farmers everywhere from 9th to 11th century, until A.D1066, English feudalization system began to be built up widely. But only survived several hundred years, at the end of the 14th century, English slavery system disorganized, till the 16th century, capitalism widely sprang up and lead to the burst of bourgeois. So English the given name began important than family name. This maybe the reason for why the given name is at front of the family name in English-speaking countries. 2.3Naming customs of Chinese and English names and the cultural connotation reflectedin the literary worksName as an individual character in society, its original connotation has consanguineous connection with the development of social history. After a comparative study, we can know that there are some common and differences on naming customs of Chinese and English names.Ⅰ.There are some similarities in the naming customs of Chinese and English name, the mainly form as the following:1). Named after timeChinese people often name their children after time, others can clearly know the born time of the child from their name, and name is a memory for them. The same as Chinese names, the English names often make use of time, such like: Spring, winter, Rain, Snow, Wind, Moon, and May.2). Named after propagationChinese people often named their children after animals or others with full power and strength, but also with the nidering animal name means nobleness. At the same time, they also make use of the name of plants. As well as Chinese names, English parent also usually name their children after propagation in hoping of better development on their characteristic development.3).Named after the structure of wordsChinese people often adapt similar word as children’s names; the purpose of this is for reading simple and catchy. Or the name is made up by double words,; or the family name is divided into the given name; also the family name gather with the given name means a perfect connotation. Or the family name is his father’s, and the given name is his mother’s family name. This is a representation of the levitation of women status in society and living. The structure of English name is similar as Chinese ones, such as: Rosemary is made up of Rose and Mary; May is transferred from Mary. This innovation is a form of western thinking.4). Named after the bailment of their eldershipMost of Chinese names melt with the expectation of their eldership, they expect inheriting wealth, flourishing family; longevity and so on. But the western culture emphasizes individual power, and gain successby individual efforts, so individual bravery and muscularity is the guarantee and precondition of success. Individual success is the top target of everyone living, as the parents, used such names meaning the expectation and bailment on their children (mainly the boy). Such as: Boris, William, Richard, Harold, Abraham and so on.Ⅱ. The difference in the naming ways of Chinese and English namesChinese names reflect profound cultural connotation of China. Their names mean the connotation as the above, the expectation of their parents, their thinking ways and mode; the memory for Chinese history or great matters, or some history variance. At the same time, there are many other factors such as: station, sequence, weight and method all become the information source of naming.The naming ways of English names have their own characters. This mainly embody on the consciousness of religion and money. Often we can see most of them are come from the language of Anti-Greece, Hebraic and Latin. In Hebraic, most has the relation with Judaism Myth; In Anti-Greece and Latin, most of them have the relation with the godly names of Greece and Roma myth. But few names have direct relation with Christianize Such as: James, Diana, Athena, Eliot, Pound, Dollar, France and so one. Through them, we can see the expectation that the parents means, and the good dream.3Chapter ⅢThe influence of deep-going cultural connotation and different social cultures on Chinese and English names3.1The culture generality in Chinese and English cultureCross-Cultural communication involves communication as well as aspects on chronology，linguistics，Psychology，sociology，etc..Scholars from different regions and different perspectives define its content in various ways.In America，Richard Porter listed eight aspects of the content: attitude(including world views，values，Prejudice，stereotyped views)，ethnocentrism，social organization，Way of thinking，language，sense of space，sense of time and non-verbal expression.In Europe，the study of cross-cultural communication has been closely related to linguistics. It has been separated as an independent discipline only recently. Raymond Williams has done a lot of research on culturally-loaded English words in his book keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society，which gives people a lot of insights to the content of cultural studies. Jenny Thomas presented her basic ideas about the intent of cross-cultural communication in her book Pragmalinguistic Failures in cross-cultural Communication from the perspective of pragmatic use of the language. She classified failures in communication into two: Pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. In cross-cultural communication，her sociopragmatic failures refer to the contents like what topic is proper and what is not; The relationship between people; the rights and obligations of people and values etc. (Hu，2002:14)In China，teachers began to pay attention to cross-cultural communication only in 1980s.Our focus was on foreign language teaching and the relation between target language and its culture. Xu Guozhang(许国璋) was the first to publish his article Culturally-loaded words and English Language Teaching in1982. (Hu，2002:16) In 1989，Deng yanchang(邓炎昌) and Liu Runqing(刘润清) published their book Language and Culture in which certain cultural differences involving languages between Chinese and native speakers of English are analyzed and discussed. This book has a tremendous influence in the study of the relations hip between language and culture in China. Later on Hu wenzhong(胡文仲) has published many articles and books on this issue，and thus the content of cross-cultural communication has gone beyond foreign language teaching. Now more and more works are published which have covered comparisons of Chinese and foreign languages and their cultures in all kinds of details and aspects such as customs，animals，plants，color words，numbers. names，etc.3) Review of Comparative Study of Names from Cross-Cultural Communication PerspectiveAs mentioned above，the early study of cultural communication in China focused on foreign language teaching and the relation between target language and it culture in abroad sense. In early 1990s，the content of cultural communication Started to go beyond foreign language teaching. Articles as well as books on comparative study of names，from the cross-cultural communication perspective，began to appear in China in 1990s.In 1994，two articles on names written separately by Lou Guangqing(楼光庆) and Lu Jianji(鲁健骥) were collected in the book《文化与交际》edited by Hu Wenzhong. Lou in his article“从姓名看社会和文化”briefly analyzed the features of Chinese and American names while Lu in his paper“人名与称谓中的排行”focused on the proper order of interpersonal greetings often puzzling foreigners.Tian Huigang(田惠刚)in his book《中西人际称谓系统》published in l998 gives a detailed description of given names as well as family names in Chinese culture and western culture. This book provides a quite comprehensive knowledge of names. The disadvantage is the language，what the author means here is that the book was written in Chinese without English version.Again in 1998，JiaWeiguo(贾卫国) published his article“语言、姓氏与文化”in which he did a general and comparative study on Chinese and English names. Du Xuezeng(杜学增) in his book《中英文化习俗比较》published in 1999，devoted one chapter to name customs both in China and in English-speaking countries but this whole chapter，I think，is a general introduction to name diversities in both Chinese and English cultures.Yang Sijian(杨自俭) in his article“英语姓名学中的几个问题”printed in 2001 theoretically presented his ideas on anthroponomastics meaning name study. Zhan Bei(詹蓓) in 2001 in her article“译名与文化”published in Chinese Translators Journal brought our attention to the cultural implications in the translation of names.In 2003，GaoYongehen(高永晨) and RenRui(任瑞) also published an article in Tianjin Foreign Studies University Journal entitled“中英姓氏差异中的文化蕴涵”. This article discussed the associations or images that both Chinese and English names had produced when encounters first met with each other either in daily life or in 1iterary works.From all that is mentioned above，readers may have the impression that the content of cultural communication covers various aspects of languages and their cultures，including names. Benedict，at the very beginning of her book patterns of Culture，stated，“From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behavior. By the time he can talk，he is the little creature of his culture，and bythe time he is grown and able to take part in its activities，its habits are his habits，its beliefs his beliefs，its impossibilities his impossibilities.”(Benedict，1934:3)One’s name，as apart of his culture，a window of his society and bearer of his cultural heritage，is born with him and companies him for the rest of his life.Therefore，it may assumingly well influence his life as well as his future，if we believe culture shapes one's experiences and behaviors.3.2The different cultural connotationName is a special cultural language, it reflects some cultural history, civilization and custom, is one of the most important cultural epitomes. Through comparing the Chinese and English name, we can know that there are many similarities between these two kinds systems of name, but the difference is more evident. And the difference we had stated above, so now we will not repeat here. We can get the following revelation after the study on it:Firstly, the Chinese name has more long and old history than the English one, not only the structure is more complex than English name, but also the name plays a more important function in our society. The language embodies the thinking character of his nation, at the same time, restrict and lead human thinking ways. The origin of family name in China is more earlier, and on the before of given name on the form, this explains Chinese put family name on an important position, and take it as a sign of a family. Given name is an individual signs. In another word, family stands an integrate position in everyone’s hear, personal benefits should be after this. But in England, the given name is on the before of the family name, as well as on the form, they consider that the family name is a supplement of the given name. Because the family name did not have so important meaning, so they put more attention on their individual name—the given name. They have no so strong family thinking as Chinese, they don’t care the other kindred exclude their parents and their children.Secondly, name also can reflect the different behave when Chinese and English people faced authority. In China, in all ages, people consider the names jinn, emperor, oracle and successful man is sacrosanct, so when they refer these, they can not call their name directly, and Chinese don’t like copy the name of head and celebrity. This shows that there is stronger grade-mind in Chinese heart, but in the English-speaking countries, they will name their children after the jinn, emperor, oracle and successful man, this reflects the equality and democracy in their nation.The last, name also is the tool for recording culture, it reflect the national history and cultural development, has timely spirit. English is not a country come after a great revolution, it was formed by the foreigner’s aggression and evolvement, so it does not like China, American, and France and so on. In history,。