The general structure of British names is: Christian name, self-given name, and surname.
For example, William Jafferson Clinton, but in many cases the middle name is often omitted, such as George Bush, and many people prefer to use nicknames instead of formal given names, such as Bill Clinton.
The origins of British names are roughly as follows:
1. Use names from the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, ancient celebrities or literary classics as your given name.
2. Use the ancestor's place of origin, mountains and rivers, birds, animals, fish and insects, flowers and trees as the Christian name.
3. Variants of the given name.
4. Adopt a (nickname) nickname.
5. Use word-formation techniques to create new Christian names, such as reverse order and merging.
6. Use your mother's maiden name as your middle name. Commonly used male names among English-speaking people are: James, John, David, Daniel, and Michael. Common female names are: Jane, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah, and Catherine.
Extended information
British surnames are roughly the same as Chinese ones, with most surnames placed at the front (of course, there are also many surnames placed at the back). Chinese surnames are mainly based on ancient fiefdom names, such as Zheng, Zhao, Qin, Qi, Deng, etc. British surnames are also mainly derived from city, place names and patronymic names.
The main etymologies of British surnames are:
1. Directly borrow the Christian name, such as Clinton.
2. Adding affixes indicating blood relationships to the Christian name, such as suffixes -s, -son, -ing; prefixes M'-, Mc-, Mac-, Fitz-, etc., all indicate the son or descendant of someone.
3. Add an affix indicating identity before the Christian name, such as St.-, De-, Du=, La-, Le-.
4. Reflecting place names, landforms or environmental characteristics, such as Brook, Hill, etc.
5. Reflecting identity or occupation, such as: Carter, Smith.
6. Reflecting personal characteristics, such as: Black, Longfellow.
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