By Jolene Tien
Have you ever logged on to a website or read a newspaper and found that certain names occur repeatedly? Or have you ever tried to register an account on a website but felt frustrated that your name was already taken? Coincidence? Do some names have special qualities and that’s why so many people are named after them? Do some names even have magic power? Most of us at NTU were born in the 1980s. According to the US government’s Social Security Online, the top 15 names for babies born in the US during the 1980s are: You probably won’t be astonished by these statistics. These are exactly the English names of all our friends. Or maybe your own name is on the list too? Now let’s take a look at the situation in Taiwan, where it is much more difficult to share the same name with others, since most of us have two Chinese characters in our given names which can be freely chosen from many possibilities. Still, some parents seem to dote on certain names. The most popular names for girls are 雅婷 (Ya-Ting) and 怡君 (Yi-Chun), and the most popular names for boys are 宗翰 (Tsung-Han), 建宏 (Chien-Hung), and 志豪 (Chih-Hao). Perhaps this is because many Taiwanese choose names for their babies based on the suggestions of a fortune-teller, who will provide parents with a list based on the date of birth, gender, and other cryptic reasons. They also have to calculate of the total number of strokes in the name, since different stoke counts are thought to lead to different fortunes. Even if parents don’t believe in fortune-telling they often try to name their babies with a lucky number of strokes. Another explanation is that names are thought to represent different qualities based on gender. Boys are often named by words that reveal masculinity and erudition, or contain associations of patriotism and politics. On the other hand, girls’ names are mostly related to sentimentality and beautiful ornament. There is also a traditional Chinese concept that men represent the outside (public) while women represent the inside (domestic). Consequently, the variety of boys’ names is comparatively larger than girls’. In western cultures parents not only consider the meaning of names, often derived from religion or mythology, but also are concerned with the images and feelings that names bring. For example, Abraham is a name that clearly reveals its religious origin. Other popular Biblical names are Joshua and Benjamin, which use Josh and Ben as nicknames. A girl named Alex brings us the image of a smart, efficient, slightly boyish, and hip girl. For a while it seemed as if every movie heroine fitting that description was called Alex—Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Cher in The Witches of Eastwick, Debra Winger in Black Widow, Jane Fonda in The Morning After, Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, and most recently, Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels. Other names like Jersey or Dakota used to be boys’ names, but are now more often used for girls. Names also change with time. Some names might be quite common in the past century but not so much nowadays. For example, Mavis and Wilbur could be grandparents’ names, but few kids seem to be called that now. Such “old names” exist in Chinese, too (such as 武雄 or 素珠). It would be very odd to meet friends our age with such names. Naming sure isn’t an easy job. Nevertheless, since we are living in an electronic era, we have many chances to name ourselves, either for an internet ID or some other form of virtual identity. So don’t forget to find a name that is perfect for you! a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|