What's in a Name

What's in a Name? Written by Francis Morgan. Illustrated by Nora Voutis.

名字的由来？ 作者：弗朗西斯·摩根 绘者：诺拉·沃蒂斯

Introduction. In this book, we are going to study names. We will use the names of a third grade class to find out where names come from. Your last name is your family name. Your first name is your given name. It's called given name because your parents give it to you. Often your parents will pick two names for you, a first name and a middle name. You have your name all your life. However, many women change their family name when they marry. They take the family name of their husband. Their children have this family name as their last name.

前言 这本书里，我们会一起研究名字 我们会以一个三年级班级的名字为例，探寻名字从何而来 你的姓氏就是你的家族名 你的名就是你的取名 它之所以叫取名，是因为这是父母为你取的 通常父母会给你取两个名字，一个名和一个中间名 你的名字会陪伴你一辈子 不过，很多女性结婚后会更改原来的姓氏 改用丈夫的姓氏 他们的孩子也会把这个姓氏当作自己的姓

This is Tommy Tompkins. There are 24 other children in Tommy's class. 12 are boys and 12 are girls. Every morning at school, Mrs. Zimmerman, the teacher, calls out the names of the children. The children shout present after they hear their names. She starts with the boys' names, then she continues with the girls' names.

这是汤米·汤普金斯 汤米的班里还有另外24名小朋友 12个是男孩，12个是女孩 每天早上上学，班主任齐默尔曼夫人都会点孩子们的名字 孩子们听到自己名字后会大声喊“到” 她会先点男孩的名字，再接着点女孩的名字

Family names. Your family name has probably been in your family for hundreds of years. At one time many years ago, people had only one name, a given name. At that time, there were very few names for parents to choose from. People lived in small villages where everyone knew each other. Over the years, the population increased. Villages grew larger. Towns were formed. In the towns and villages many people had the same name and it started to get confusing. In one village there may have been eight men called John.

家族姓氏 你的家族姓氏很可能已经在你的家族流传好几百年了 很久很久以前，人们只有一个名字，也就是名 那时候，父母能选择的名字非常少 人们都住在小村庄里，大家彼此都认识 多年过去，人口数量增长了 村庄变得越来越大 慢慢形成了城镇 城镇和村庄里很多人重名，慢慢就开始分不清谁是谁了 一个村子里可能就有八个名叫约翰的男人

The villagers had to add words to the different Johns names to understand which John they were talking about. Some of the Johns were known by adding their father's name. For example, John David's son or John Jack's son. Others were known by where they lived. For example, John from the hill or John from the lake. Others were known by the job they did. For example, John the carpenter or John the gardener. Still others were known by some personal feature. For example, John the short or John with white hair.

村民们不得不给不同的约翰加额外称呼，好分清说的是哪个约翰 一些约翰会加上父亲的名字来区分 比如，大卫的儿子约翰，或是杰克的儿子约翰 另一些约翰用居住的地方来区分 比如，住在山上的约翰，或是住在湖边的约翰 还有一些约翰用从事的工作来区分 比如，木匠约翰，或是园丁约翰 还有一些约翰用个人外貌特征来区分 比如，矮个子约翰，或是白头发约翰