ChinesePod
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@ 50190 姓名的起源
A 你知道嗎，做老師的樂趣之一，就是每年新生報到的時候，可以看點名冊上那些五花八門的名字，有些名字真的很有趣。
nǐ zhīdào ma, zuò lǎoshī de lèqù zhīyī, jiùshì měinián xīnshēng bàodào de shíhou, kěyǐ kàn diǎnmíngcè shàng nàxiē wǔhuābāmén de míngzi, yǒuxiē míngzi zhēnde hěn yǒuqù.
You know what? One of the joys of being a teacher is that when new students sign up every year, you can look at the attendance list and see the variety of names. Some names are really funny!
B 是嗎？對此我倒是沒有仔細研究過。我只知道中國的名字以兩個字和三個字的居多，還有極少數的複姓組成的四個字的名字。
shì ma? duìcǐ wǒ dàoshì méiyǒu zǐxì yánjiū guo. wǒ zhǐ zhīdào Zhōngguó de míngzi yǐ liǎng ge zì hé sān ge zì de jūduō, hái yǒu jí shǎoshù de fùxìng zǔchéng de sì ge zì de míngzi.
Really? I've never really looked into it that carefully. I just know that most Chinese names have two or three characters. There are also a very small number of double surnames that have four characters.
A 你說的多是漢族的起名習慣吧，少數民族的名字則和我們通常所見的名字不太一樣，而且字數都很多。比如肖甫開提，阿依布拉克什麼的，這些就是維吾爾族的名字。
nǐ shuō de duō shì hànzú de qǐmíng xíguàn ba, shǎoshùmínzú de míngzi zé hé wǒmen tōngcháng suǒ jiàn de míngzi bùtài yīyàng, érqiě zìshù dōu hěn duō. bǐrú xiāofǔkāití, āyībùlākè shénme de, zhèxiē jiùshì wéiwú ěr zú de míngzi.
I think you're talking about how Chinese choose names. Minority peoples' names are different from the ones we usually see. And there are a lot of characters. For example Xiaofukaiti, A-yibulake and so on. These are Uighur names.
B 哇，看來你對名字還真是很有研究。那漢族的名字通常都只有兩到三個字嗎？
wā, kànlai nǐ duì míngzi hái zhēnshì hěn yǒu yánjiū. nà hànzú de míngzi tōngcháng dōu zhǐyǒu liǎng dào sān ge zì ma?
Oh. It looks like you really know something about names. Well, Han names generally have only two or three characters, right?
A 對，大多數的名字都是這樣。除了歐陽、司馬、諸葛等複姓外，姓通常是一個字，名則可以是一個字或者兩個字，都比較常見。不過隨著中國的人口的增加，兩個字的名字實在是太容易重名了。起三個字的選擇餘地比較大，比較不容易重名。
duì, dàduōshù de míngzi dōu shì zhèyàng. chúle Oūyáng , Sīmǎ , Zhūgé děng fùxìng wài, xìng tōngcháng shì yī ge zì, míng zé kěyǐ shì yī ge zì huòzhě liǎng ge zì, dōu bǐjiào chángjiàn. bùguò suízhe Zhōngguó de rénkǒu de zēngjiā, liǎng ge zì de míngzi shízài shì tài róngyì chóngmíng le. qǐ sān ge zì de xuǎnzé yúdì bǐjiào dà, bǐjiào bù róngyì chóngmíng.
Right. The majority of names are like that. Except for double surnames like Ouyang, Sima and Zhuge, most surnames are a single character. Names can be one or two characters. There's a lot of flexibility in choosing three-character names, so it's pretty rare to repeat names.
B 沒錯，我就記得以前讀書的時候，班上同時會有好幾個李麗，王平。因為這些姓和名都太常見了。特別是百家姓中的幾個大姓，更加容易重名，同姓的人實在太多。
méicuò, wǒ jiù jìde yǐqián dúshū de shíhou, bān shàng tóngshí huì yǒu hǎo jǐ ge Lǐ lì, Wáng Píng. yīnwèi zhèxiē xìng hé míng dōu tài chángjiàn le. tèbiéshì bǎijiāxìng zhōng de jǐ ge dà xìng, gèngjiā róngyì chóngmíng, tóngxìng de rén shízài tài duō.
That's right. I remember when I was in school, I had quite a few classmates named Li Li, Wang Ping...Because these names are so common. That's especially true for the hundred most common names. It's even easier to see the same name. There are so many people with the same surname.
A 是的。中國的孩子通常都隨父姓，只有極個別的隨母姓，意為家族的香火通過名字和血緣都一脈相傳下去，家族也就越來越大。聽說古時候起名字是要按資排輩的。通常是依據家族流傳下來的家譜，用姓加上表示輩分的字，再加上自己的名字。因而有可能整個家族裡同一輩的孩子，名字的前兩個字都一樣，只有最後一個字不同。也有一些名字還體現了當時的時代特色。比如新中國剛成立的那段時間，建華，愛國，保田等名字特別流行，真是從根本上體現了愛國主義。
shìde. Zhōngguó de háizi tōngcháng dōu suí fù xìng, zhǐyǒu jí gèbié de suí mǔ xìng, yì wéi jiāzú de xiānghuǒ tōngguò míngzi hé xuèyuán dōu yīmàixiāngchuán xiàqu, jiāzú yě jiù yuèláiyuèdà. tīngshuō gǔshíhou qǐ míngzì shì yào ànzīpáibèi de. tōngcháng shì yījù jiāzú liúchuán xiàlai de jiāpǔ, yòng xìng jiāshàng biǎoshì bèifèn de zì, zài jiāshang zìjǐ de míngzi. yīnér yǒu kěnéng zhěnggè jiāzú lǐ tóngyībèi de háizi, míngzi de qián liǎng ge zì dōu yīyàng, zhǐyǒu zuìhòu yī ge zì bùtóng. yě yǒu yīxiē míngzi hái tǐxiàn le dāngshí de shídài tèsè. bǐrú xīnzhōngguó gāng chénglì de nà duàn shíjiān, Jiànhuá, Aìguó, Bǎotián děng míngzi tèbié liúxíng, zhēnshì cōng gēnběn shàng tǐxiàn le àiguózhǔyì.
Yeah. Chinese kids often get their father's surname. Only a few take their mother's surname. Because families' ancestral worship is passed on through surnames and blood ties, families get bigger all the time. I hear that in ancient times, names were given by seniority. It was usually done according to family trees passed down through families. You'd use the surname, plus a word to show the generation, and then a name. Because of this, there might be a full generation of kids in a family who share the first two characters of their name, with only the last word different. And there are some names that show characteristics of a particular era. For example, during the time just after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, names like ``Building China," ``Patriot," and ``Protecting the Land" were very popular. It really shows people's patriotism.
B 可是現在再聽這些名字就覺得比較土。大概因為時代發展了，名字就顯得比較老套。還有用和花相關的字來命名的現在看起來也特別地俗氣，比如翠花，小紅，豔豔等，都比較有鄉土氣。
kěshì xiànzài zài tīng zhèxiē míngzi jiù juéde bǐjiào tǔ. dàgài yīnwèi shídài fāzhǎn le, míngzi jiù xiǎnde bǐjiào lǎotào. hái yǒu yòng hé huā xiāngguān de zì lái mìngmíng de, xiànzài kàn qǐlai yě tèbié de súqì, bǐrú Cuìhuā, Xiǎo Hóng, Yànyan děng, dōu bǐjiào yǒu xiāngtǔ qì.
But these days, when we hear these names, they sound a little dowdy. It's probably because it's a different era, so those names seem pretty old-fashioned. Names that have to do with flowers also seem very rustic-- ``Green Flower," ``Little Red," ``Bright and Beautiful," and so on. They all seem quite rural.
A 是呀。不過聽說以前農村裡起名字，流行一種迷信的做法，覺得起越土的名字，孩子越好養。所以一堆人會起像鐵柱啊，狗蛋啊之類的名字。還有家庭會給男孩子起像女孩子的小名，覺得這樣比較好養大。
shì yā. bùguò tīngshuō yǐqián nóngcūn lǐ qǐ míngzì, liúxíng yīzhǒng míxìn de zuòfǎ, juéde qǐ yuè tǔ de míngzi, háizi yuè hǎoyǎng. suǒyǐ yīduī rén huì qǐ xiàng Tiězhù ā, Gǒudàn ā zhīlèi de míngzi. hái yǒu jiātíng huì gěi nánháizi qǐ xiàng nǚháizi de xiǎomíng, juéde zhèyàng bǐjiào hǎo yǎng dà.
Yeah. But I've heard that in the past, a superstitious method was popular in the villages. People thought that the more rustic and earthy the name, the easier a child would be to raise. So tons of people used to give children names like ``Iron Column," and ``Dog Egg." And some families would give male kids female-sounding nicknames, because they thought it would make the kids easier to raise.
B 難怪，我聽到有些名字以為會是女孩子，結果發現是男生，還很驚訝。不過這種情況應該不算多吧，總覺得男孩子會比較抗拒用像女生的名字，太娘娘腔。
nánguài, wǒ tīngdào yǒuxiē míngzi yǐwéi huì shì nǚháizi, jiéguǒ fāxiàn shì nánshēng, huán hěn jīngyà. bùguò zhèzhǒng qíngkuàng yīnggāi bù suàn duō ba, zǒng juéde nánháizi huì bǐjiào kàngjù yòng xiàng nǚshēng de míngzi, tài niángniángqiāng.
No wonder I've been really surprised to hear some names and think they were girls, only to discover that they were boys! But this is probably not really common, huh? I've always felt that boys would resist using girls names-- it's too sissy.
A 對，剛，強，兵，飛等字都比較陽剛，通常用做男生名。麗，婷，萍，菲等字則比較陰柔，自然在女生名中比較流行。不過倒是有女生起比較男性化的名字，倒顯得很帥氣和有個性。比如說“若男”，就能體現女子堅強的一面。不過現代人都不是特別講究了，只要好聽和有涵義就好。當然也不排除有的家庭為了圖吉利，會特意請算命師幫忙起個涵義特別好的名字。
duì, gāng, qiáng, bīng, fēi děng zì dōu bǐjiào yánggāng, tōngcháng yòng zuò nánshēng míng. lí, tíng, píng, fēi děng zì zé bǐjiào yīnróu, zìrán zài nǚshēng míng zhōng bǐjiào liúxíng. bùguò dàoshì yǒu nǚshēng qǐ bǐjiào nánxìnghuà de míngzi, dǎo xiǎnde hěn shuàiqì hé yǒu gèxìng. bǐrú shuō `` ruònán" , jiù néng tǐxiàn nǚzǐ jiānqiáng de yīmiàn. bùguò xiàndàirén dōu bù shì tèbié jiǎngjiu le, zhǐyào hǎotīng hé yǒu hányì jiù hǎo. dāngrán yě bù páichú yǒude jiātíng wèile tú jílì, huì tèyì qǐng suànmìngshī bāngmáng qǐ ge hányì tèbié hǎo de míngzi.
Right. Names like ``Steel," ``Strong," ``Soldier," ``Flying," and so on are more masculine, and they're often used in boys' names. Names like ``Pretty," ``Graceful," ``Grass," and ``Fragrant" are more feminine, and they're naturally popular as girls' names. But some girls do have rather masculine names, so that they seem elegant and distinctive. For example, ``like a man" can express a lady's strong side. But modern people don't take it all that seriously anymore. As long as it sounds good and has some meaning, it's fine. Of course, we can't rule out that in some families hire a fortune teller to help them choose an extremely auspicious name, for the sake of getting good fortune.
B 啊，說來起名字還真是門大學問。又要好聽高雅，又得吉利有內涵，無怪那麼多年輕父母，一說到起名字就有些頭痛了，這可是關乎孩子一輩子的事情呢，真可謂是責任重大！
ā, shuōlái qǐ míngzì hái zhēnshì mén dà xuéwèn. yòu yào hǎotīng gāoyǎ, yòu děi jílì yǒu nèihán, wúguài nàme duō niánqīng fùmǔ, yī shuōdào qǐ míngzi jiù yǒuxiē tóutòng le, zhè kěshì guānhū háizi yībèizi de shìqing ne, zhēn kěwèi shì zérèn zhòngdà!
Ah, talking about it, we can see that choosing a name is really a serious field of scholarship. It needs to sound good and elegant, and it has to be lucky and have a good implication. It's no wonder that so many young parents get flustered at the very mention of choosing a name. It's something that will follow the child for his entire life. It's no exaggeration to call it a heavy responsibility!
Key Vocabulary
五花八門 wǔhuābāmén all kinds of
複姓 fùxìng two character surname
維吾爾族 wéiwúěrzú Uighur
歐陽 Oūyáng Ouyang (two character surname)
司馬 Sīmǎ Sima (two character surname)
諸葛 Zhūgé Zhuge (two character surname)
百家姓 ǎijiāxìng common surname
一脈相傳 yīmàixiāngchuán derived from the same origin
按資排輩 ànzīpáibèi to promote according to seniority
家譜 jiāpǔ family tree
娘娘腔 niángniángqiāng womanish
陽剛 yánggāng manly
陰柔 yīnróu feminine
涵義 hányì meaning
Supplementary Vocabulary
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