The Comparison of Naming Patterns
...U”(means happiness) in a way that different from the original one in order to show the respect to the king. It’s a common practice in feudal China that the king would bestow a name called “shihao” to a minister or a general after his death to honor his loyalty or his bravery. Name involves very deep cultural elements in China. It’s an echo of different times of history. However, all of these are due to the initiative and unique nature of name, which offers a wild space for the human creativity. We can never express endless meaning within limited set names. However, in a lot of countries the practice is to choose a certain name from a large set, like some European countries and even the U.S. In Germany, there is a legislation, which says that first names need to be gender specific. From a first name, one should be able to distinguish whether the person is male or female. Also, should a German resident marry a foreigner with an exotic surname, he or she might encounter problems when wanting to adopt the partner's name in Germany. Names that are pulled from a hat or just invented cannot be adopted by German citizens. This makes sense when looking at the German music scene too. Singers in the country generally keep their original names. One would need to look long and hard to find anyone with a name as creative as the Symbol (the artist formerly known as Prince). Following is a piece of news I found on line: A couple was caught up for tangling with the authorities. Mr. and Mrs. Kepurras wanted to name their daughter Jona, a popular girls' name in Israel. The German register office claimed that the name was too masculine for a girl and therefore wouldn't allow it. After three court cases, the German authorities relented and ruled that the name was neither masculine nor feminine. Therefore, they stipulated that the name could only be adopted for the girl when used in conjunction with her second name, Chantel. No one can mistake Jona-Chantel for being a boy, the officials reasoned. I can never ever imagine such kind of things will happen in an advanced democratic European country. Parents are caught up just for giving their own daughter a name that is not conformed to the official standard. Is it based on German’s frenzied preference to rule and regulation or in some aspect the sex discrimination? In Germany if you are accidentally married a foreigner with exotic -- at least to German ears -- sounding name. Nonetheless, the law remains inflexible on this topic. Germans may not simply adopt an exotic name, no matter how nice or common it sounds in "native" ears. In this case, one can never deny the apparent ethnocentrism and nationalism underlined in it. Now, let’s move to the United States. Whenever you google the entry “name” on net, you can always see various long lists of top100, top200 or even top600 names used in the U.S. for both male and female .If you have the interest and patience to go a little further with it, even more detailed information, like the most popular names in different states and different years will fulfill your screen and you can enjoy a feast of kinds of names. According to a nation-wide survey: in 1990, more than 87% of all baby boys and 80% of all baby girls were given one of the 100 most popular names. 3.6% of the baby boys born were named Michael, 3.5% were named Matthew, and 2.2% were named James. Topping the female name list that same year were the names Jessica with 2.8%, Sara with 2.2%, and Brittany with 1.8%. Children with a very popular name may feel that they must share it with others, while a child with a very uncommon name is likely to feel that it is uniquely his or hers (Browder 17). However, children with more popular names generally have an easier time gaining acceptance from their peers (Kolatch 32). At Pottawattamie High School in Kansas, the state resting at the center of the country, Matthew was the most popular, with 7.8% of the boys sharing that name, followed by Christopher, Michael, Daniel, and Ryan, all with 4.7%. Justin, David, and Paul rounded out the three most popular, with 3.1% each. Topping the female name list that same year were the names Jessica with 6.4%, Sara with 5.7%, and Brittany with 1.8%. So imagine a funny scenery that when you call “Matthew” in the campus, hundreds of boys will turn back to look at you, and even more girls will smile sweetly to you, when their popular name “Jessica” is called. Never tell your schoolmates that Matthew and Jessica got married, because there are millions of possibilities in this information according to mathematics arrangement rules and never try to sa...