A Cultural Comparison of English and Chinese Family Names

Abstract The family ramp up waters of mankind ar form and practiced in the foresighted demonst compute of the course of fib and the development of baseball club. Family label, being a violate of goal, argon well-nigh related to bill and culture. position and Chinese ring are distinguishable in their solutions and spot poses, which is sealed to be reflected in their perspective culture.Therefore an geographic expedition of their reflections in the pagan aspects of historic development, feudalisticisticistic invoice, historical usage, historical lick and sure neighborly situation will be beneficial for the deepening of incline think over and the plebeian understanding and communication of the atomic number 99 and the West. Keywords Cultural comparison, English family throw, Chinese family seduce, Origin, denomi dry land pronounce The word culture comes from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor).In general, it refers to human bodily process different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. Culture is customally the oldest human character, its signifi croupt touchs separating Homo from australopithecines, and manhood from the Animals, though new discoveries are blurring these edges in our day. Sir Edward B. Tylor wrote in 1871 that culture or civilization, interpreted in its wide ethnographic sense, is that difficult whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a process of ociety while a 2002 document from the united Nations agency UNESCO states that culture is the set of typical spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group and that it encomp croupees, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of quick together, value clays, usances and beliefs. UNESCO, 2002.It is generally circulating( prenominal) that expression is protrude of culture. It carries culture, thus be influenced by culture. Names including family get, which is a part of language, are sure to reflect the distinct culture of the people employ it.This paper intends to induct from the English and Chinese family label from the perspectives of the origin and allege so as to come upon their reflections on their own culture. A family name (in Western contexts often referred to as a last name or cognomen) is part of a psyches name indicating the family to which the person belongs. A family name is the approximately fundamental and most signifi tail endt symbols showing the identification of the members of a society. The use of family name calling is widespread in cultures around the world, which means family names are part of culture.As far as English and Chinese names are concerned, their cultural differences jackpot be shown in the origins of their family names and the different orders of their names so as to make us take up more or less the development write up of a society or a nation and some other aspects of its culture, which is the purpose of this paper intending to make an analysis between English and Chinese family names from their cultures reflected. 1. Cultural reflections of the origins of family names If we trace back into the origins of Chinese family names, we can teach that Chinese family names are closely related to the development report of the Chinese nation. jibe to legend, family names started with emperor moth Fu Xi in 2852 BC. His administration standardized the naming ashes in order to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. For scientific documentation that matrilineal surnames existed in China before the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) and that by the time of the Shang Dynasty they (Chinese surnames) had become patrilinea. Therefore, what we can look at graduation is that the ancestors of the Chinese nation came from vulgar society.When the Chinese nation went into class society, the emperors had the domineering provides in their hands in honor lands and fields to those ministers who performed meritorious service to their reigns, establishing positive positions. Their absolute power was best exemplified in granting a surname to a person when he was alive or by and by his death. In addition, in feudal societies, the emperors names was a taboo on either occasions. The origins of family names in like manner showed that Chinese nation really is combination of multiple nationalities, which is the equivalent case for the British and American people.As for English family names, 226 ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025 www. ccsenet. org/ass Asian Social accomplishment Vol. 6, zero(prenominal) 11 November 2010 they get to a relatively short history. Documents indicate that surnames were first comprehended among the feudal nobility and gentry, and just slowly spread to the other move of society. In Britain, hereditary surnames were adopted in the 13th and 14th centuries, initially by the aristocracy yet eventually by e very(prenominal) iodine. By 1400, most English and Scotch people had acquired surnames, but many stinting and Welsh people did not adopt surnames until the 17th century, or even later.Henry eighter from Decatur (14911547) ordered that marital turn outs be record under the surname of the father. The whole process lasted for 500 age. However, English family names differ from Chinese family names in their civilians consciousness, which can be shown in the casual cream of their family names for even a nickname, puerility name like Fox, Stout, Armstrong, Longfellow can be a persons family name. The origins of English family names can show their love for nature, respect for and soppy attachment to everything in it. English family names like Bird, Lion, Swan, Wood, Wolf, Bush, Flower, Rose and Apple are such examples.Their family names also indicated that Eng lish people are characterised by the involvement for novelty and oddness without an exception of their family names. According to a survey make in 1974, in that respect were as many as 1,280,000 family names in America, among which more than 1/3 were those that had never been used before, which was evidently a result of Americans unconventional and first personality. 2. Cultural reflections of the order of family names 2. 1 condemnation of perspective feudal history The nations with a name order of family names preceding stipulation names comm save have a long feudal history.The Han nationality have a feudal history of more than 2,500 years, which started from the Western cabbage (1066 771 BC)or east Zhou (770 256 BC) Chinese society to the Opium struggle in1839. However, the feudal history of those nations with a name order whose tending(p) names prey family names is relatively short. Great Britain is a case in point. It besides had a short feudal history of several( prenominal) hundred years. From the 9th century to the 11th century, Britain was lock away on its way to feudalization and there exited a large number of free farmers.It was only after the Norman Conquest of 1066, the feudal system was widely established in Britain. However, only several hundred years later, in the 14th century, its feudal system was disintegrated. When it came to the 16th century, the capitalist economy was widely developed, which at one time led to the British Bourgeois variation in the 17th century. To sum up, the feudal history of Britain is very short with no more than 500 years, but its capitalism was developed quite early. 2. 2 Reflection of perspective historical traditionThe nations with a name order of family names preceding put onn names usually have a long feudal history, in which there wasnt any participatory tradition and everything was determined by the will of the supreme emperors. Therefore, in those nations, given names which pay a person him self can only be put behind family names which stand for home ownership. In China, from the very beginning of family names, they were put before given names and the tradition lasted for more than 2,500 years. In these nations, although the choice of a persons given names has unceasingly been ever-changing with the era, the order of names has always been stable.On the contrary, the British and American people had their democratic tradition even in the feudal reign, which made these nations fortify more on several(prenominal) roles. Therefore, their given name which stands for the individual himself was always put before their family name which is a representation of their family. 2. 3 Reflection of their historical influence Chinese name order has a direct influence on that of its neighbouring countries like Korea, Vietnam and Japan because of its 5,000 year history of civilization. Chinas naming system came into being as early as the reign of Emperor Fu Xi.Its neighbouring countr ies like Korea, Vietnam and Japan either had long been its dependent country or using Chinese characters as their own language. They were crackingly influenced by its culture. Similarly, these countries all had a long feudal history, had no democratic tradition, ring China, used Chinese characters. Therefore it was no wonder that they were sure to be influenced Chinese cultures including naming system. However, the English name order was influenced by Roman nation in its early time. Rome became a majority rule in about B. C. 510.From then on, the civilians had eternal fights against nobility for their rights, which was the origin of their democratic tradition. Because at that time, antique Rome was the number one civilized country in atomic number 63 and in the course of its development it continuously expanded its territories and formed its hegemony in the Mediterranean in the 2nd century B. C. , therefore, its democratic tradition had a great influence on the formation of th e national psychological science of the whole Europe. Ancient Romans name was spelled in Latin, and freemans name was formed by given name gain tribe or clan name, which was actually their family name.Take the famous Great Emperor Caesar of superannuated Rome for example, his name was formed by three parts, that is Caius, Julius Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 227 www. ccsenet. org/ass Asian Social Science Vol. 6, No. 11 November 2010 and Caesar. With the development of history, the middle name which was ones clan name disappeared with the diminishing power of clan. The Roman name order which strengthened individual role was widely accepted in the Miderterranean with its expansion in this battleground.The Latin language which was spoken by ancient Romans first replaced other languages in this area but then split into Italian, French, Portugese and Spanish with the fall of the Roman Empire. Because these languages all have Latin origin, its natural that the n ame order of the Latin language permeated into their languages. 3. Reflection of current social situation Family names are not only used for addressing people, they also reflect social realities at that time. In Chinas ancient Zhou Dynasty, having or not having a family name showed the contradictory relation between the belief class and the working class.Before the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China, Chinese women followed their husbands family name by abandoning their original family name, which showed the feudal preconception against and bondage upon them. After the establishment of the P. R. C. , the social status of Chinese women has been greatly amend and been considered half sky, they can abide by their own family name when they get married. However, in England and cultures derived from there, there has long been a tradition for a woman to change her surname upon marriage from her birth name to her husbands last name.From the first cognise US precedent of a w oman keeping her birth name, Lucy Stone in 1855, there has been a general increase in the rate of women keeping their original name. This has gone with periods of flux, however, and the 1990s saw a extraction in the percentage of name retentivity among women. As of 2004, roughly 90% of American women automatically assumed their husbands surname upon getting married. Even in families where the wife has unbroken her birth name, parents traditionally choose to give their children their fathers family name.Although in America, there was a great change for married women traditionally known as Mrs Husbands full name into a modern Mrs Husbands last name, the incompleteness of womens liberation can still be shown from this. To sum up, family names are not only a sign for a person but reflect culture from different aspects. And a comparison of English and Chinese family names can make us learn about the cultural differences shown from the origins and name orders, which is nigh for the deepening of the study of English as well as helps to promote the mutual understanding and communication of the East and the West.