“Smith”. “Kim”. “Li”. “Devi”. These are all surnames from different parts of the world. I was never very interested in names, or the meanings that are behind them. I merely believed that names were labels meant for identifying who is who.
“史密斯”。 “金”。 “李”。 “Devi”。 这些都是来自世界不同地方的姓氏。 我从来没有对名字或它们背后的含义很感兴趣。 我只是认为名字是用来识别谁是谁的标签。
However, as I arrived at China and began to go to a school where many people from all around the world come together, I started to recognise how interesting and different both first names and surnames from different places in the world truly are. Not only did I see this through meeting friends from Germany, China, France, Slovakia and more, I also realised this through people from my own culture; that of Korea.
然而，当我到达中国并开始去一所来自世界各地的许多人聚集在一起的学校时，我开始认识到来自世界不同地方的名字和姓氏是多么有趣和不同。 我不仅通过与来自德国、中国、法国、斯洛伐克等国的朋友见面看到了这一点，我还通过来自我自己的文化；韩国文化的人意识到了这一点。
When I lived in Incheon, South Korea, I came across very few surnames. Nearly always, the people I encountered would have the surnames of “Kim” (a very common surname and the one that I have), “Lee”, or “Park”, all of which are extremely typical surnames in Korea (which, by the way, also each have their own special meanings).
当我住在韩国仁川时，我遇到的姓氏很少。 几乎总是，我遇到的人都有“Kim”（一个非常常见的姓氏，也是我的姓氏）、“Lee”或“Park”的姓氏，这些都是韩国非常典型的姓氏（顺便说一句，每个姓氏都有自己的特殊含义）。
But after I enrolled in an international school in Nanjing, I somehow was able to see and learn that there are many more Korean surnames, such as Min, Gong, Oh, or even two-syllable surnames, which I did not know existed.
但在我进入南京的一所国际学校后，我莫名其妙地看到并了解到还有更多的韩国姓氏，如Min、Gong、Oh，甚至是我不知道存在的双音节姓氏。
I was also able to open my eyes to hidden meanings and reasons behind these names; “Kim” has the meaning of “metal” or “gold”, “Lee” means “plum tree” and “Park” means “gourd”. This led me to think about first names as well; why would a person’s parents name someone a certain way? Would it be to match their firstborn sibling’s name? Or would it have a beautiful meaning derived from an ancient language? Or would it just be a wordplay that means something concise and sweet?
我还能够睁开眼睛，看到这些名字背后的隐藏含义和原因；“Kim”有“金属”或“黄金”的意思，“Lee”的意思是“李子树”，“Park”的意思是“葫芦”。 这也让我想到了名字；为什么一个人的父母会给某人起某种名字？ 会和他们长子兄弟姐妹的名字相匹配吗？ 或者它会有一个源自古代语言的美丽含义吗？ 还是它只是一个文字游戏，意思是简洁而甜蜜的东西？
As for me, my name is made of ancient characters; “Na” meaning “unsure of what to do” and “Hee” meaning “happiness”, which therefore translates my name to “Overwhelming Happiness”.
至于我，我的名字是由古老的字符组成的；“Na”的意思是“不确定该做什么”，“Hee”的意思是“幸福”，因此我的名字被翻译成“压倒性的幸福”。
From what I’ve heard, my mother and father had consulted a professional that thinks up the ideal names for babies based on their star signs, birthdays, where they were born, etc., in order to find the best name according to their date and time of birth.
据我所知，我的母亲和父亲咨询了一位专业人士，他根据婴儿的星座、生日、出生地等为婴儿想出理想的名字，以便根据他们的出生日期和时间找到最佳名字。
It’s a tradition in Korea; to seek the help of a professional to name a child in such a way that would bring them the most happiness.
这是韩国的传统；寻求专业人士的帮助，以能给他们带来最幸福的方式给孩子命名。
Speaking of which, utilising the meaning of words to create individual names for babies is also a custom in China. Each name is specifically chosen in order to represent certain qualities, as well as to ensure that the child has a bright future, which is why most names for babies are identical.
说到这里，在中国，利用单词的含义为婴儿创建个人名字也是一种习俗。 每個名字都是專門選擇的，以代表某些品質，並確保孩子有一個光明的未來，這就是為什麼大多數嬰兒的名字都是相同的。
Parents also consider using the correct number of strokes in the characters of the name, as well as somehow integrating the five elements (fire, water, earth, stone, and wood) so that the name is balanced.
父母还考虑在名字的字符中使用正确的笔画数，以及以某种方式整合五种元素（火、水、土、石和木），以便名字平衡。
Something else to consider in a child’s name is their horoscope (and birthday). While there should be statistically few identical names, having been chosen from a canon of over 10,000 characters, in reality the same names keep popping up, as used by parents due to their good meaning.
孩子的名字中需要考虑的另一件事是他们的星座（和生日）。 虽然从统计学上讲，从10,000多个字符的佳能中选出的相同名字应该很少，但实际上，相同的名字不断出现，因为父母使用它们的含义很好。
These include “mei” (美), used widely for girls due to its meaning, “beautiful”; “fang” (芳), which means “fragrance”; and “min” (敏), meaning “clever”.
这些包括“美”，因其含义“美丽”而被广泛用于女孩；“芳”，意思是“香味”；以及“敏”，意思是“聪明”。
Chinese people often also do not give their child a name for their first few months of life, as it is believed having elegant, beautiful names invites demons and evil spirits into their lives. For demons are assumed to cause illness and premature death in babies, and therefore parents might not give a name at all, or even call their infant by a negative name until they grow up and become stronger so that they could ward off evil spirits.
中国人也经常不给孩子起名字，因为人们认为拥有优雅、美丽的名字会招致恶魔和邪灵进入他们的生活。 因为人们认为恶魔会导致婴儿生病和过早死亡，因此父母可能根本不给婴儿起名字，甚至用负面的名字称呼婴儿，直到他们长大并变得更强壮，以便他们能够抵御邪灵。
Call a child by a name such as “Dog” or “Ugly” and demons will run a mile.
用“狗”或“Ugly”等名字称呼孩子，恶魔就会跑一英里。
Today of course, many Chinese people choose to create English names for themselves too, quite often when they enter an important stage in their lives, such as going to university or getting married. And of course foreigners may have trouble pronouncing Chinese names; one of the benefits of Chinese people transitioning to using both Chinese and English names is that international interactions become more convenient and easier.
当然，今天，许多中国人也选择为自己创建英文名字，当他们进入人生的重要阶段时，比如上大学或结婚时，他们经常会选择。 当然，外国人可能很难说出中文名字；中国人过渡到同时使用中文和英文名字的好处之一是，国际交流变得更加方便和容易。
Naming is a significant part of our lives, as it is not only a label meant for differentiating between people as I formerly thought, but because it is also a part of our identity. Our names can brings us happiness, they can show what our families think of us, and perhaps what traits we have. This is true for not only our names from our birth, but also the names we have in other languages too, because they are what connect us with other people on the international stage.
命名是我们生活的重要组成部分，因为它不仅是我以前认为的区分人与人之间的标签，而且也是我们身份的一部分。 我们的名字可以给我们带来快乐，它们可以展示我们的家人对我们的看法，也许还有我们有什么特质。 这不仅适用于我们出生时的名字，也适用于我们在其他语言中的名字，因为它们是将我们与国际舞台上的其他人联系起来的原因。