A

In English vocabulary, there are many words which are evolved from people’s names. In western literature, there are numerous characters which are so delicately and vividly described that they leave a deep impression to the readers. Their names are also kept in mind and gradually gain their special meaning. The extended meanings of these names are closely related to their background, most of which are extended by the way of metonym and the result of extension concerns generalization or conversion. Therefore, to understand the meaning of those words, it is necessary for us to know the stories behind them.

Name is not only the sign of differentiating the social-members from each other,but also contains a nation’s language, history, culture and religion and so on. Because of the differences of historical development and cultural tradition, two distinctive systems of names formed. This paper from the origin of Chinese name and Western name and  the way that people named shows the differences between Chinese and western name culture. Through the name of thorough research we can better understand western culture,and it is good for English learning, and promotes the development of international culture.

I.Introduction 

The name of human society has always been an important part of personal identification. In communicative activities, people usually start with the name. Name is the common culture phenomenon of Chinese and English nations, but the national history, ecology, religion, customs, feelings, aesthetic taste, and different ways of thinking, forming a distinctive name of culture. Name is diverse, culture is also diverse. As carriers of cultures, Chinese and English names are full of cultural connotations, and result in cultural gap between English and Chinese. 

In English vocabulary, it is not difficult to find out that there are thousands of words which are related to people’s names. Some of these names are from the real people in history. Some are the characters in literature. And these names are gradually endowed with new meanings. 

The meaning of the words often relates directly to their origin. All the words commonized from proper nouns can be interpreted in terms of their origin. Therefore, to understand the relationship between the characters in western literature and English vocabulary will benefit our English learning in several ways.

     Names are used by human beings and they are the signs for people to distinguish one person from the others. They have some particular functions that no other signs can perform. They are not only linguistic symbols, but also social symbols, representing relationship in societies and cultures. “Each person has his name which distinguishes himself from other members in the community, and each country has its own name system owing to their different historical and cultural background”. （吴芳，2002） In a word, personal names are windows for people to see through different cultures in different societies. According to researching the name, it can make us deeply understand western culture, and help us learn English, and promote the development of international culture.

II.Surname Origin

   The study of surnames has formed a scientific discipline. It has closely relations with census, linguistic, history and archaeology, and has an extremely important role for personnel modernized scientific management. 

A huge number of words in English vocabulary come from people’s names. Based on the origin, those names can be divided into three categories, the name of scientists or inventors, the name of public people, and the name of characters in literature. As those names acquired an extending meaning gradually. They are not only a name any more but have become one of the words in our daily use. This phenomenon is what we call “antonomasia”. As an important part of English vocabulary, most of the proper nouns are in the process of antonomasia. It is positive and useful to enlarge and visualize the vocabulary. And in this case we can also consider antonomasia as communization.

According to Quirk et al (1985), the names of people belong to proper nouns. This means they don’t need article, numeral or other modifiers. For example, when we call someone we ask “is it John” instead of “is it a John”. But once a name became a common noun such as Shakespeare, we may say “he is a modern Shakespeare”. And because Shakespeare is so famous for his literary career, there is no need to explain what “a modern Shakespeare” means. 

Using the names of real people as common nouns seems more familiar in English vocabulary. One of the main reasons is that they are easier to recognize, such as “Joule” and “Hertz”. However, there are more words which are evolved from the characters’ names in literary works. The characters and images created in the literary works were imaginary. And their names were proper nouns. However, because of their representativeness and typification, they finally became common nouns used in our communication.

As mentioned above, the words of antonomasia have several resources. First, they may come from the scientists who did a great job in some field, such as “Curie” and “Newton”. People usually name technical terms in their working field after the scientists in memory of their contribution. Similarly, an inventor may be memorized for their inventions like Braille and Condom. There is an old ballad which indicates this situation:

As an edge discipline, the surname study receives the value of various aspects.Because of the change of all previous dynasties royal government, the official circle ups and downs, years of violence,climate change, ethnic migration and the national migration and other factors, the surname is very confused.

Outline

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….….....1

 2. Surname in China and Western countries......…………………..............................1

2.1. Han surnames…………………………………......................…………….......….2

2.1.1. The origins of Chinese surnames........................................................................ 2

2.1.2. The development of Chinese surnames................................................................4

2.2. English speaking country's surnames......................................................................6

2.2.1. The origins of Chinese surnames.........................................................................6

2.2.2. The development of Chinese surnames...............................................................7

3. Name in different ways in China and Western countries.......................................9

3.1. Chinese names.........................................................................................................9

3.2. Westerners names .................................................................................................10

4. The translation of differences of Chinese and Western names...............................12

4.1. English translation of Chinese names...................................................................12

4.2. Chinese Translation of English Names.................................................................13

5. Comparison of Chinese and Western nicknames ....................................................15

6. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………16

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