Mon, May 19, 2008 page15

• Biblical to bizarre: American baby names run the gamut 五花八門的美國嬰兒名

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  Planning on naming your baby Jacob or Emily? Be forewarned, those two names topped the US most popular list again last year — Emily for the 11th year running.

  The 2007 top baby names list released by the US Social Security Administration for Mother’s Day showed Americans consistent in their love for classical names: Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel topped out the top five on the boys side, while Isabella, Emma, Ava and Madison were favorites for girls.

  But the list showed that plenty were striving to be unique, creating wholly new names like Nevaeh — “heaven” spelled backwards — or sometimes just taking extreme orthographical liberty with better-known monikers.

  

  Singer Ricky Martin holds babies at a shelter for victims of sexual exploitation in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on March 29, 2008. 三月二十九日，歌手瑞奇．馬汀在柬埔寨暹粒一處性剝削受害者收容所內手抱兩名嬰兒。照片：美聯社

  PHOTO: AP

  “For reasons likely to puzzle baby name experts around the world, American parents have become infatuated by names, particularly for their sons, that rhyme with the word ‘maiden,’” the SSA said.

  It counted 34 such names in the top 1,000 for boys, including homonymic variations Jayden, Jaden, Jaiden, Jaydon, Jadon, Jaeden, Jadyn, Jaydin, Jaidyn and Jaydan.

  Despite the freewheeling spellings, spokesman Mark Lassiter said the SSA “would resist any legislative efforts to standardize the spelling of names,” according to an agency statement.

  Aside from variants on “heaven,” the SSA pointed to the popularity of philosophical ideals for girls’ names: Destiny (No. 41), Trinity (No. 72), Serenity (No. 126), Harmony (No. 315) and Miracle (No. 461).

  Fast-rising names included Danica, now at No. 307, for top female race car driver Danica Patrick, and JaMarcus, No. 743, for football star JaMarcus Russell.(AFP)

  想幫小孩取名為雅各或艾蜜莉嗎？先提醒您，這兩個名字去年再度衛冕全美最受歡迎的名字，而且艾蜜莉已經蟬連十一年冠軍了。

  美國社會安全局為迎接母親節公佈了二ＯＯ七年嬰兒命名排行榜，結果顯示美國民眾對經典名字的偏好不變，其中排名前五名的男孩名字還包括：麥克、伊森、約書亞和丹尼爾，而伊莎貝拉、艾瑪、艾娃和麥德森也是最受喜愛的女孩名字。

  但排行榜也顯示，很多人想給孩子取個特別的名字，他們自創了一些新名字，像是「Nevaeh」（「Heaven（天堂）」的倒寫）；有些則是隨意拼寫大家耳熟能詳的名字。

  社會安全局表示：「美國的父母為兒子取名時，尤其喜歡和「maiden」押同韻，這讓全世界的嬰兒命名師感到不解。」

  在前一千個最受歡迎的男孩名中，就有三十四個這類同音不同拼法的名字，包括「Jayden」、「Jaden」、「Jaiden」、「Jaydon」、「Jadon」、「Jaeden」、「Jadyn」、「Jaydin」、「Jaidyn」和「Jaydan」。

  儘管有這些隨性的拼法，社會安全局發言人馬克．萊錫特在一份聲明中表示，局方「不希望政府立法將姓名拼法標準化」。

  除了各種「天堂」的變型名字外，社會安全局也指出一些有哲學意涵的女生名字，如：排名四十一的黛絲特妮（天意）、排名七十二的崔娜蒂（三位一體）、排名一百二十六的薩瑞娜蒂（安詳）、排名三百一十五的哈孟妮（和諧），以及排名四百六十一的米芮蔻（奇蹟）。

  排名迅速竄升的名字包括三百零七名的丹妮卡，其名人代表為頂尖女賽車手丹妮卡．派翠克，還有排名七百四十三的賈馬克思，其名人代表為足球明星賈馬克思．羅素。（法新社�翻譯：袁星塵）

  For your information

  TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字

  1. orthographical adj. 拼字正確的 (pin1 zi4 zheng4 que4 de5) 例: I won't argue over orthographical issues. (我不會去爭論拼字議題。) 2. infatuated adj. 入迷的 (ru4 mi2 de5) 例: Ned is infatuated with the lovely girl in marketing. (奈德迷上行銷部那位可愛的小姐了。) 3. homonymic adj. 同音異義的 (tong2 yin1 yi4 yi4 de5) 例: "Bear" and "bare" are homonymic. (「bear」和「bare」兩個字讀音一樣，但意思不同。) 4. freewheeling adj. 無約束的 (wu2 yue1 shu4 de5) 例: The freewheeling photographer travels wherever his mood takes him. (那位無拘無束的攝影師隨心所欲地到處旅遊。)

  For your information

  READING COMPREHENSION 閱讀測驗

  1. Which of the following is a “philosophical” name? a. Jayden. b. Destiny. c. Isabella. 2. Which name moved up on the list? a. Emily. b. Jacob. c. Danica. 3. Many of the names on the list rhyme with... a. Hayden. b. Kitty. c. Jacob. 4. Americans tend to... a. not use classical names. b. like using classical names. c. conform to traditional spellings for names.

  For your information

  SAY WHAT? 說說看

  run the gamut 包羅萬象 The word gamut means a complete range. For example, “The painting shows a gamut of themes, from joy to sadness.” To run the gamut is to include everything that has to do with a certain topic or item. For example, “The talks ran the gamut, from lower carbon limits to better recycling and waste disposal programs,” or “Debbie was angry when she came into the classroom. What she yelled about ran the gamut, from the quality of the textbook to the style of teaching and the number of students per class.” 「gamut」這個字意指整個範圍，例如：「這幅畫作展現出多元主題，從喜樂到悲哀都涵括在內」。 「run the gamut」表示涵蓋各式各樣和某特定主題或事物相關的東西，例如：「這場對談內容包羅萬象，從降低碳排放到有效回收，以及廢棄物處理計畫全都涵蓋在內或是「黛比進教室時氣沖沖的，從課本的 品質到教學方式，還有每班學生人數，全被她數 落了一番」。 

  For your information

  OUT LOUD 對話練習

  Luke: What are you doing? Pierre: I’m getting ready for my singing lesson. Luke: You’re always singing or writing songs. Do you dream about seeing your name in lights? Pierre: Not really. It’s just a hobby that I really enjoy. Luke: Well we’ll have to go to KTV together. I’m sure you’ll be the hit of the party. 盧克：你在做什麼？ 皮耶：我在為歌唱課做準備。 盧克：你老是在唱歌或寫歌，你想成為家喻戶曉的歌星嗎？ 皮耶：也沒有啦，這只是我很喜歡的嗜好而已。 盧克：那我們一定要一起去唱KTV，你一定會成為派對的焦點人物。 see one’s name in lights　家喻戶曉 A person who sees his or her name in lights is famous for something, especially for a career in entertainment. For example, “With her most recent role, Vivien was finally able to see her name in lights.” 若某人「see his or her name in lights」，表示他或她因為某事而出名，特別是在娛樂事業上，例如：「薇薇安終於靠著最新的戲劇角色而家喻戶曉」。
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