Even though New Zealand has quite liberal rules about naming
children, names beginning with a number are not allowed. They decided to
call him Superman instead.
In many countries around the world, unusual names for children are
becoming more popular, especially since the increasing trend for
celebrities to give their children wacky names.
In Britain, you can call a child almost anything you like - the only restrictions
on parents relate to offensive words such as swear words.
Some parents choose names which come from popular culture. For example,
there have been six boys named Gandalf after the character in the Lord
of the Rings novels and films. Equally, names relating to sport are
fairly common - since 1984, 36 children have been called Arsenal after
the football team.
Other parents like to make up names, or combine names to make
their own unique version, a method demonstrated by Jordan, the British
model, who recently invented the name Tiaamii for her daughter by
combining the names Thea and Amy (the two grandmothers). She was quoted
as saying that the accent and double letters were added to make
the name 'more exotic'.
Other countries have much stricter rules when it comes to
naming children. Countries including Japan, Denmark, Spain, Germany and
Argentina have an approved list of names from which parents must choose.
In China, there are some rules about what you may call a child - no
foreign letters or symbols are allowed. As a result a couple were
recently banned from calling their baby @.
In Britain, some names which were previously thought of as old-fashioned
have become more popular again, such as Maisie or Ella for a girl, or
Alfie or Noah for a boy. But the most popular names are not the wacky
ones. The top names are fairly traditional - Jack, Charlie
and Thomas for boys and Grace, Ruby and Jessica for girls.
NOTES:
- liberal - либеральные
- trend - мода или тенденция
- wacky - эксцентричные
- restrictions - ограничения
- offensive - обидным, порой оскорбительным
- swear words - бранным словам
- after - зд. в честь
- make up - придумывать
- accent - знак ударения
- stricter - более строгие
- when it comes to - в том, что касается
- were banned - зд. запретили
- @ - знак электронной почты [по-английски произносится
так же, как предлог at]
- old-fashioned - старомодными
- top - самые популярные
- traditional - часто встречающиеся, привычные
Источник: http://www.bbc.co.uk |