Winner? Loser?

1. Do you think Winner and Loser Lane’s names had anything to do with the way their lives turned out? Use evidence from the article to back up your argument.

I think by the time when loser Lane understand and recognize the meaning of his given name, he might feel depress and unfair, because who would like to be a loser? Moreover, in this article, Loser Lane has twisted the destiny of his name and managed to cope with the modern world successfully. On the other hand, Winner couldn’t prolong the meaning of his name and became a “real loser”.

Loser lane become a policeman and was eventually promoted to detective, however, Winner fell into a total chaos. He committed many crimes and being arrested for at least 31 times, also being jailed for two years.Therefore, I think winner and loser’s name have nothing to do with their lives.

2. Do you think the meaning of a name is important in the naming of a child? Explain in detail why / why not.

In my opinion, I think names are given as a present of birth. Nevertheless, it’s also an important source for communication between each others. I think the meaning of a name is important in the naming of a child, because as an explanation in Chinese culture, behavior fallows the name you were given. However, in the case of this article, Loser might suffer from depression of the name Loser, so he might want to act like a Winner instead of being a real Loser.

Names

In my opinion, the 'British Names' article provides a unique account of British naming from antiquity to present days. It was interesting to see how naming varies from Britain to my nation, and that defines the differences in our cultures. From the article, I have gained many new insights into the role of ancient languages, religions, as well as foreign invasions and culture integration in determining British names. In addition, fashion and family class can also serve as powerful forces that influence parent's decisions when choosing names for their children. In the article, it is found that English surnames fell into six main categories, including paternal names, nicknames, place names, topographical names, occupational names and officerial names. This shows us how British surnames can be linked to their daily life.

On the other hand, meaning plays an exceptionally vital and central part in determining names for children in Asian families. In my culture, names often carry some sort of meanings, such as characteristics that the parents wish their children would possess in the future. My full name is Nguyễn Vũ Trí Trung. My first name is 'Trung' which can be interpreted as loyalty or faithfulness. 'Meanwhile, 'Tri' stands for wisdom and intelligence. I also found out that my family name is actually a combination between my dad's surname 'Nguyen' and my mom's surname 'Vu'. However, 'Nguyen' was still put in front of 'Vu', which was probably due to the fact that men were valued above woman in the old days. My family name 'Nguyen' belongs to the Nguyen Dynasty, one of the most prosperous and powerful reign in the history of Vietnam. Although the surname 'Vu' dose not have any specific meanings, I am still very proud to have it in my name since it is the surname of my grandfather from my mother side.

HH ♥

In Chinese, last names are generally followed from the ancestors. In Chinese families, children's last name always follow the father's last name.

The last name Sun in Chinese is one of the most common twenty last names, about 1.5% of the Chinese population. Although it is only 1.5% of the population, it is still very popular because there around 22000 Chinese last names.

My name Hui Hsing is given by my parents after I was born.

In Chinese, there are many letters pronouncing the same but written completed different and each of them has a different meaning.

The letter Hui in my name means smart and knowledge and Hsing in my name means a strong fragrance or aroma.

However, my name was not selected based on the meaning, it was related to the fortune-telling in a way as the older people in the family, such as my grandmother, believes a lot it in. The fortune-teller came up with a number of names for my parents to pick and they considered the choice of letters, the number of strokes in my name and all other considerations that I have never known. To me, I think the whole process is just too complicated.

From the article I read, I find it very interesting that British people has a much quicker way of choosing names. To me, the way British people choose names is so simple compare to how Taiwanese do. They do not need to consider tons of aspects like us which made me think it's special as I thought the process of choosing names is as complicated as us around the whole world.

Namessssssss @@

I'm interested in the variety of sources and reasons why English first names are chosen. “British Names” had helped me build up my knowledge. French has always been my favorite language, therefore, the influence of beautiful names like Eric and Arnold came from the invasion of Scandinavia and Normans had impressed me. Religion (such as Christian bible) also plays as an important part as the source of names like Catherine, Teresa, Mary, Anthony, George and Frances. It’s amazing how these names became greatly popular. Therefore, if one asks me to pick out the most favorite part of the article, I'm afraid I can't do so as I appreciate all of the information given.

According to the article, my middle names "Thai Bao" were chosen from my mom's favorite people (who are my uncle and my mom's best friend). My last name "Tran" was from my dad's side, which belongs to the Tran Dynasty, one of the most famous dynasties in the Vietnam's history. My name Khanh actually can either mean you, lord, noble, state minister, or high officer. Vietnamese names are usually based on Chinese characters, even they are written in the Latin characters. What people would do is to pronounce the word out loud and translate the Vietnamese word into Chinese word and write that Chinese word down on a paper and analyse it. As the Chinese characters are made up of other Chinese characters, we can get the meaning once the analysis is done.

Names. (:

a. What you noted as the most interesting aspect of this reading.
To me the most interesting aspect about the article is that people are actually named after the name that reminds them of a relative, close friend or person in the public domain. It is because, I always thought that name should be unique to everyone. Moreover, I think the trends and popularity of names are particularly interesting too as there is no such thing in Chinese. In Chinese, most people have got different names. Even if people who got the same name, the character used would be different.

b. What does your first name and family name mean? How were they selected?
My full name is actually Hii Kai Ting. My first name is Kai Ting and my family name is Hii.
The ancient Chinese got their family name either by the country that they live in, the dynasty or it is given by the Chinese emperor.
As for my family name, it is originated from a ruler of a country name "xu guo (許國)" according to several sources online. However, im not quite sure about the credibility of that. Normally, we just got our family name passed on from our ancestors. Children usually follow their father's family name. In addition, the "Kai" in my name actually have the meaning of happiness and "Ting" actually contain the meaning of slim and pretty. However, my name is not given purely because of the meaning. It's given partly because the stroke of my name is good. It is a fortune-telling thing that I'm not quite sure of.

Su Pu Sheng

(a.) The most interesting part I found in the article was mainly about how the double barrel works. I’m always wondering of how western name was given, and this article gives information of how the name was given. I’m interested of the combination of both parents’ name. Moreover, the aspect of six main categories for the surname was interesting as well. By Parental names, Nicknames, Place names, Topographical names, Occupational names, Officerial names.

(b.) My first name is Pu Sheng, Family name is Su. Being a traditional Chinese, name plays an impotant roll for a person. When I was a child, my name was Su Chong ren, which it means being compassion and honest. However, my parent decided to change my name to Su Pu Sheng. Pu Sheng is a type of instrument in China; people said that by listening to it, it’ll bring peacefulness to the surrounding. My family name is SU, it’s basically from the ancestor.

What does my first name and family name mean? How were they selected?

Asian cultures, on the other hand, influence people differently in selecting and giving names to their children. I was given my full name, Cao Duy Lân, by both my parents. My first name - Lân stands for Lion, which is one of the four Asian Mascots which are Long (the dragon), Lân (the lion), Quy (the turtle), Phụng (the phoenix) and has been adopted by many religious groups as a symbolic figure, especially Buddhism. It comes after the word Duy which means unique and original so that both, as a phrase, represent the strength, power, determination, leadership and bravery that only I, as a unique and special person, could possess. Surprisingly, my surname Cao only arrived from my dad's last name without having any particular meanings but to represent the heritage as well as the continual tradition of my family.

Lesson work for Friday 5th December

Year 13s,

You are booked into the library for today's lesson (I'm observing another teacher). You should make sure you complete the following:

1) Finish your blog about your own name and the article on 'British Names' (some have not yet posted their comments)

2) Please read the article entitled 'Family's winner becomes a loser and loser a winner' and answer the questions at the end (you can choose to either blog your answers, or print them and submit to me). You can find the article in:

Z:\Public-Students\Secondary\A1_LEARNING_RESOURCES\A3_KEYSTAGE5_IB\G2_SECOND_LANGUAGE\ENGLISH\YEAR_13\Identity

I know most of you will use your laptops - but I have also booked one of the islands for you.

Have a wonderful day!

Yi Seul - About the article / name

Typically, Korean names are made with Chinese characteristics and so the majority of Korean names have meanings in Chinese. However, my name is pure Korean and is not made up of with Chinese characteristics. My name literally means 'dew', which has an image of freshness and the 'beginning'. (I know it doesn't really match with me.) My name was given by my parents, who hesitated between the name 'Jin Sil', which means truth, and 'Yi Seul'. However, my mother persuaded my father to choose 'Yi Seul' at the end, because 'Jin Sil' was a name of famous celebrity in Korea and my mother thought that I would be teased by other people. Although my name is pure Korean, my family name can be written in Chinese characteristic 'CHOI', which means 'high in height'.

One of the aspects that I found interesting about the article was the fact that English names are mostly opaque. I found this interesting because majority of Korean names have meanings. In fact, this is the reason why names are meaningful to Koreans. However, after reading this article, I realised that English names have values in origins, not in the meaning of names. The fact that English names are meaningful because of the unique backgrounds of the names was interesting to me.

HaKyung

My name, 'HaKyung Song' was given by my dad while my mum was pregnant with me. In my family, "Jun" is the common element. My brother is called "Jun Soo", all my cousins' names are Jun An, Jun Kyung, Jun Hyeon and Jun Yeon. On my dad's side of the family, that was the common element for everyone's name.

However, that did not go the same for me. My parents believed that names starting with "Jun" was not a pretty/nice name for girls. Thus, they chose not to follow the tradition. After a long while, my dad came up with HaKyung.

HaKyung Song.

HaKyung means Summer in Seoul.
Song means a country.

Ironically, with the name of Hakyung Song, I was born in Summer at Seoul, Korea.
I love the season Summer the most and an urban setting like Seoul.

:)


In my opinion, within the article, I found two most interesting aspects. Firstly, the fact that there was a trend to names. For example, names such as Magaret is no longer popular and usually the name for older women. It was interesting to find out that popularity for names change as time passes. Moreover, I was fascinated by the idea that meanings weren't the prior reason for giving names. In Asia, mostly all names are given with special meanings (my name isn't a particularly good example but in Korea especially, many oy my friends had names that meant purity, kindness, glow, intelligence and such) but in Western culture, it was mostly the sound. This is actually the way I see it when giving names (mostly cause that's how my name works) . Meanings are important, but the sound is more important.

I feel that my name is very special because it doesn't own such typical meanings but has a refreshing and pure sound.

Year 13 Task

Year 13s,

You should be blogging the follownig:

One paragraph that explains which aspect of the article you found most interesting and why you found it the most interesting.

One paragraph that explains the meaning of your name and, if known, the reason you were given your name.

British Names - Blog Activities

It is simply thought that parents usually name their children based on their origins or the personalities that parents hope their children would become in the future. The article has particularly left interesting aspects on me throughout the reading. First of all, the fact that the first source for names used in Britain and throughout the English-speaking world is the Bible has amazed me. It was surprised that the first source name was not the way of naming a person based on his or her origins like what most parents do nowadays. Moreover, it was interesting that there were varied names brought to the country through invasion such as the influence of the normans of north-west France in 1066. I wouldn't be surprised if a name is based on trend or regular-changed fashion. However, hardly could I think that the British parents also name their children based on the occupation. It might be due to the differences in cultures between Asian and European countries that Asian people rarely have occupational names.

Believe it or not, I'm not quite sure the meanings of my first and last names. However, as I have heard from other people and lessons. my first name which is regconized as last name in other countries stands for the Nguyen Dynasty in the past. And my last name (first name in other countires) Khanh stands for....[I have no idea :). ] My mom told me before but I couldn't remember! :)

Phuong Thao - Discuss impressive aspects

The aspect that impresses me the most in this reading is the great variety of information. The writer provided plenty of examples about the ways of naming, ranging from first names to family names.

According to the article, the first source for names used in Britain and throughout the English-speaking world is the Bible. For example, male names like Adam, Benjamin, David and female names like Deborah, Rebecca, Ruth and Sarah. Many others are also derived from saints, such as George or Anthony. Other sources of naming are Celtic tradition and invasions. I was actually taken back when I came across this idea. I never thought invasions have such big impact on cultural backgrounds of regions and countries. These were the root for many pre-Christian Germanic male names to reach England: Charles, Henry, Robert and William. Some first names are even adopted from family names. The writer also listed the 10 most common first names of Britons alive today and compared them to the most popular names for children born in England and Wales during 2008. He then pointed out some patterns and analyzed them to introduce other trends of naming in British countries. On the other hand, the article mentioned six categories of rules in choosing family names for children in its second part. They are paternal names, nick names, place names, topographical names, occupational names and officerial names. The writer concluded his investigation by explaining some complications in understanding English surnames, indicating how they are distributed and revealing the connections between social classes and naming ways. What an enormous amount of information!

4 A4 pages in length, 31 paragraphs, 2 main headings as well as hundreds of facts and figures totally knocked me out. I was strongly impressed by this informative piece of reading, but I would also rather it be less statistical and more enjoyable.

The fashion of names

In this article, I am particularly interested in the idea of the fashion of names, how one name could be so popular in one period of the history and eventually become unusual in another.

In the article, the popularity of one name is influenced by the culture at its time. For example, male names such as Alfred, Arthur or Percy and female names such as Dorothy, Ruby or Vera are quite popular in 30s, 40s whereas very few young people nowadays have those names. The article explains the influence is due to the popularity of the current celebrities.

In Asian culture, names also have the fashion. I have been grown up in a family where almost everyone has a name starts with letter H. Moreover, my mother and my aunts are all named Thao which sometimes creates confusion. Therefore, they are often called by their middle names.

I think Thao is a very popular name in Vietnam. I had met at least 25 Thaos from my day of birth. The less popular name is Long (I met about 10 of them) and then Vy (I met 7).

Throughout history, some names also faded and were actually erased. One reason was the change in the dynasty. Basically, whenever a new king is announced, the birth name of the king is forbidden to be called out publicly. Therefore, it is very unlikely for a child to be given the same name to the king at that era. Eventually, some names are eradicated and they have only become popular again recently.

The most interesting aspects of "British Names"

The most significant piece of information, which I've found the most interesting about this reading is how different The British culture is compared to my Asian culture in choosing names. British names are mostly based on the play with the vocabulary and the use of ancient languages without necessarily giving them a particular meaning. It is also very intriguing how religion plays a vital part in determining British names by inspiring people to name their children after the names of saints or well-known individuals in the Bible. For example, names of saints such as Anthony, Christopher, Francis, George and Stephen have been commonly used for men whilst Catherine, Ann, Mary, Jane and Teresa have been widely given to women. Given by the New Testament, names of the four evangelists who were believed to be the first people to spread the words of God, which are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are also preferred by many people. Even more interestingly, many English names were brought to the country through the invasion of other cultures such as the Scandinavian or the Normans from north-west France in 1066. Apart from that, the formation of British surnames are also as simple as first names' yet very complex when considering the variety of sources from which they come from. Studies have shown that early English surnames often fell into six main categories which are paternal names, nicknames, place names, topographical names, occupational names and officerial names. These categories, indeed, showed an essential connection between the British people and their everyday life as well as their heritage, as place names represent the place where they originally came from, topographical names refer to a geographical feature of where they lived and occupational names were known by their occupations.