The composition and order of foreign names are quite complicated. Some have a surname and a given name, some have a given name but no surname; some have a surname before the given name and some have a first name before the last name, and the situation varies. According to the "Technology Translation Work Manual", the excerpts here briefly introduce the names of British, American, French, German, etc. for reference.
1. British and American names
(1) The order of British and American names is first name first and last name last. For example, Herbert George Wells (Herbert George Wells), the first and second words are the given name, and the last word is the surname.
〔 2) According to British and American customs, when a baby is baptized, the name is usually given by a priest or parents or relatives, and is presented as the Christian name, which is placed at the front of the name. In addition, elders or the person themselves can also give a second name after the given name. This is why Anglo-Americans often have two or more names. Names can come from many sources. Some people use their mother's surname as their children's second name because their mother's line belongs to a famous family or has other special honors. There are also people who borrow the surnames of celebrities, relatives, or people who have close contacts with the family. Sometimes, descendants completely inherit the names of their parents. In this case, the word Junior (abbreviated as Jr. or Jun.) or Roman numerals need to be added to the name to show the difference. Such as John Ford Jr. (Little John Ford). Thomas Daly III (Thomas Daly III)
(3) There are thousands of English names. Some are used as surnames, but some are also used as first names, such as Henry. For the convenience of writing or speaking, the real name is often shortened, such as Frederick to Fred. Margaret is shortened to Maggy and so on. Nicknames are often used among relatives and friends to show affection. Nicknames are generally shorter than the real name, but there are also some that are longer than the real name. For example, Johnny is John's nickname. Sometimes there are more than one abbreviations and nicknames for a name. For example, William can be Bill, Billy, Willy, etc.
(4) For a long period of time in history, the British had only a first name and no surname. Around the 11th century, some aristocratic families used the name of their mansion to refer to the head of the family, which was later passed down to their descendants and passed down from generation to generation, forming a surname. The use of surnames first emerged in cities such as London. Its formation generally has the following types:
① Indicates blood relationship: Some add s, son and other suffixes after the father's name to indicate that he is the son of someone, for example, the father's name is Adam, and the son's surname is Adams. , the father's name is Jack, and the son takes Jackson as his surname; some use Fits, O', Mac, and Mc before the father's name. (both have the meaning of "son", "of", etc. to indicate affiliation) and other prefixes, such as the father's name Gerald, the son's surname Fitsgerald, the father's name Brian, the son's surname Brian, MacDonald, meaning Donald's son, And McMahon is the son of Mahon.
② Originated from the name of the place of birth or residence: some directly take the place as the surname, such as London (London), Cleveland (Cleveland), and some use ton, ham (containing the meaning of village, tribe), etc. The endings of the words, such as Washington, Needham, etc., and some surnames have the endings of brook (brook), wood (woods), etc., indicating the environment of the place of residence, such as Holbrook (stream in the valley), Heywood (green forest), etc.
③ Indicate appearance and characteristics, such as ack (black), longfellow (tall), etc.
④ Comes from occupation, such as Smith (craftsman), Tyler (janitor), etc.
⑤ When abbreviating a name, it is customary in the UK to abbreviate the full name, such as G. P. Thomson, or abbreviate the first name, such as G. Paget Thomson; in the United States, it is customary to abbreviate the middle name, such as George P. .Thomson. It is generally not customary to abbreviate surnames. However, some world-famous figures also have all their names in abbreviated form, such as G. B. S., that is, George Bernard Shaw (Shaw Bernard), F. D. R. That is, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Franklin Roosevelt) and so on.
⑥ How to address a person in spoken language is appropriate and appropriate, depending on the specific occasion and relationship. In the past, younger generations never called their elders by their first names; now there are a few young people who call their parents or teachers by their first names. Married women generally do not use their original surname, but use the husband's name as Mrs. For example, the woman Mary Lakins married the man John Cumings, and the woman changed her name to Mrs. John Cumings or Mrs. Cumings (Mrs. John Cumings or Mrs. Cumings). You can also write your own given name before your husband's surname to replace your husband's given name, such as Mary Cumings. After the death of her husband, a woman no longer uses her husband's name and must write Mrs. Mary Cumings. Modern women who advocate women's rights have old customs and use their original surnames.
⑦The names of British nobles are often added with the name of their fiefdom, such as Lord Greenhill Harrow. It is also customary to write it as Lord of Harrow, where Harrow is the place name.
⑧The above explanation also applies to English names in Canada, Australia, Asia, and New Zealand, and also applies to white immigrants with English names in some member states of the Commonwealth.
2. French names
(1) The order of French names is first name first and last name last. For example, Guy Mollet (Guy Mollet), the first word is the first name, and the second word is the surname.
(2) Since the Middle Ages in France, babies have to be baptized in the church after birth, and the priest will give them a Christian name. The church only recognizes everyone's Christian name. There are only a few Christian names, and the same name phenomenon occurs from time to time. People often add the name of the place where they live, the name of their birthplace, their occupation or appearance characteristics after the Christian name as an integral part of their name. In 1539, Francois I stipulated that the Christian name of the newborn and the Christian names of his parents must be recorded in the household register. Since then, French names have generally been composed of their Christian name and their patronymic or family name (that is, their surname). The French Civil Code promulgated in 1804 stipulates that all citizens must use an unchanged family name from generation to generation. French aristocrats and members of the upper class often use collar before their surname. Titles such as place names or titles; ordinary civilians, in addition to their own names, also have names given by their elders, sometimes as many as four or five. Later, it was gradually simplified, and only two or three words were retained to form the name. The surname generally has only one word, and the given name generally consists of one or two words. The more important Christian name (the first name) or the given name before the surname is usually chosen. For example: Henri Renè Albert Guy de Maupassant (Henri Renè Albert Guy de Maupassant), generally called Guy de Maupassant, is the name before winning. Another example is Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, which is simplified to Charles de Gaulle, which is the first name.
(3) The word de is inserted between the first and last names of many French people. This was a preposition originally used to indicate noble origin, but has now lost its original meaning.
In recent years, when French names are translated into Chinese, they tend to transliterate the word "de" instead of writing it separately and put it before the surname, such as de Gaulle, Couve de Mirrville, etc.
(4) Many French people often have the articles Le and La before their surnames. Such as La Fontaie and Le Goff, etc., when translated into Chinese, they are often translated together with the surname and written as La Fontaine and Le Goff.
(5) Among French names, some are reserved for women and some are reserved for men. Jacques, Pierre, Georges, Jean, Louis, etc. are male names, while Rosc, Irène, Anne , Jeanne (Jeanna), Louise (Louise), etc. are women's names.
(6) French women generally take their husband’s surname after marriage, especially when they are called Mrs. So-and-so. But you can also keep your maiden name. When recording your name in important documents, remember your maiden name in addition to your husband's surname. For example, after a woman named Louise Cotty marries Jean Dupont, her full name is Louise Dupont nèe Cotty, where nèe means she was born in a certain family. .
(7) French people also have compound surnames. For example, Mendès-France and Joliot-Curie. When writing a compound surname, a dash is usually used to connect the two surnames together. When translating into Chinese, short dashes are generally used instead of dots, which are commonly used in foreign names. There are many reasons for compound surnames. Some combine the surnames of the couple. For example, Joliot-Curie is a combination of the surnames of husband Frederic Joliot and wife Irène Curie. The order of writing is generally that the husband's surname comes first and the wife's surname comes last.
3. German names
(1) The order of German names is first name first and last name last. For example, Konrad Adenauer (Conrad Adenauer), the first word is the first name, and the second word is the surname.
(2) German names have many the same names, and there are differences between male names and female names. For example, Johannes (Johannes), Peter (Peter), Nikolaus (Nicholas), etc. are male-specific names; Elisabeth (Elizabeth), Margarete (Margaret), etc. are female-specific names.
(3) Most German names have single names, and a few have multiple names.
(4) When forming German surnames, some of them follow the names in ancient Germanic and the Bible; some originate from regions, such as Bayer (Bayer), Schwab ( Schwab); some come from the natural environment, such as Bach (river), Berg (mountain); some are taken from signs in front of houses, such as Adler (eagle), Engel (angel); some are occupations or human characteristics, such as Winzer (grape grower), Goldschmidt (goldsmith), Klein (dwarf) Schwarz (black man) etc.
(5) There are laws in both East and West Germany that stipulate that the surname of the family after marriage is the surname of the children. The surname of the family after marriage can be the man's original surname or the woman's original surname, but it is customary to use the former. Sometimes the surnames of the couple are also used to form a compound surname. For example, the compound surname Karl SChmidt-Rottluff is a combination of the surnames of both parents.