A Comparative Study on the Origin of Surnames between Chinese and English Culture中英姓氏起源的文化比较Abstract: Culture is the sum of the material wealth and spiritual wealth in the development of human and every nation has its own unique culture. Surnames, created by people’s cultural creation, which are also a special part of culture, have rich cultural connotat ion and can reflect a nation’s cultural characteristic in history, language, philosophy, ethics, morality, religions, customs, social customs, psychology and value system. A surname is a family name and many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". In the UK and the US, it is commonly synonymous with "last name", since it is usually placed at the end of a person's given name. But in Chinese culture, the surname is a very important part in one’s life, as saying “A man never changes his na me wherever he goes, nor his surname whenever he sits”. In both Chinese and English, there are a great number of diverse and interesting surnames. The article mainly expounds the origin of surnames, comparison of vocabulary of the two kinds of surnames, their similarities and differences between Chinese and English culture and their relationship with given name. Here I need to make the definition of the title. In this article, the “Chinese” means the Han nationality which uses Chinese as their mother tongue in the mainland, other minorities excluded. The “English” means the nations like the UK and the USA where English is used as a mother tongue, the other countries like Australia, New Zealand excluded. This article mainly uses comparative method to distinguish the two kinds of surnames. On the basis of this comparative study, we can reveal the internal cultural characteristics of Chinese and English deeply and thoroughly which is helpful for improving the understanding of and intensify the respect for other cultures. And it also promotes cross-cultural communication and deeply research into language rules.Key words: surname; culture; similarities and differences; cross-cultural communicationI. IntroductionSurname is not only a kind of symbols to distinguish one from another or one family from another, but also it is a high-density information symbol indicating the messages of a nation’s language, history, geography, religion and socialdevelopment. The communicators between different cultural backgroundscontacted each other initially by the change of surnames. The famous cross-cultural communication experts, Scollon and Scollon said that the surname is the beginning of the cross-cultural communication which is also the window ofunderstanding social culture and evaluation. (cited in Gao and Ren 2003)In Wangjun’s research (2004:44), she gave an example of the importance ofsurnames. One American businessman, writer and social observer called Robert.L. Shook(1977) conducted an experiment in which he asked 20 male friendswhether they wanted to date with a secretary called Harriett Finkelstein. 18friends out of 20 said that they did not have time. After one month, he askedthem again, but the girl’s name was Jill Conner. 16 of them wanted to date with the girl. Although they did not meet the girl, the first girl lost her chance only by her surname. Because the surname includes aesthetic value and religion value, it gives people the first emotional reaction by primacy effect. For the westerners, this can stir different response. But to the Chinese people, we will regard them as symbols because of diverse culture background.Because of various history and culture factors, different surname systems are formed by people at all times and in all over the world. The origins of surnames and the cultural meanings are discussed and analyzed in this paper to promote the cross-cultural communication.II. The origin of Chinese and English surnamesA.The origins of Chinese surnames1.The background information and reasons of theemergence of Chinese surnames.Chinese culture is extensive and profound so the Chinese surnames have unique formation and cultural connotation. Chinese people attach great importance to surnames and see them as a symbol of family heritage and family line. Wealways hear people who have a same surname say that we have the sameancestors, in which we can see the importance of surnames for Chinese people.The surname in China which began in matriarchal society represents the blood relationship of a race to distinguish the blood kinship when people got married.Fu Xi, the first of the Three Sovereigns of ancient China, wanted to avoid incest and have a better-birth so he set up the institution that people who had a same surname could not get married. This is a significant symbol of the progress of Chinese nation civilization. With the development of the society, the maledominated main position in the life and labor work. So the clan was man-centric and members of a clan had their surnames according to the male’s surname.(Zhou Deyuan, 1-3)Referring to Chinese traditional culture, the surnames are of great importance in people’s life and people even pay more attention to surnames than names.Because of the deep influence of Confucianism, people stress three principles and five virtues and the concept of family being supreme, so the surname is prior to name.(Zhou Deyuan, 2-5) In daily communication, if one asks another how to address, actually the one asks the other’s surname. This is totally different from English culture.2.The origins of Chinese surnamesOn the whole, there are 14 origins of Chinese surnames :(Zhou 3-10)1.In matriarchal society, people have their surnames following their mother.Because the Shennong Clan’s mother called Nudeng, so there are manysurnames in Chinese with Chinese character component with the Nu, like Ji,Jiang, etc.2.Form their surnames by fief. Ancient emperors and the feudal princes alwaysaward fiefs to their ministers and nobles so these offsprings would take the name of fief as their surname. For example, a son of King Zhao of Zhou got a fief called Weng and his offspring took Weng as their surname. In all thesurnames in China, the surname coming from fiefs is the largest part,reaching more than 200. Nowadays, these surnames break away from their genetic relationship of bloodline.3.Take the country’s name as one’s surname directly. For example, in Shangdynasty, there was a small country called Ruan where the surnames of the offspring were Ruan. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring-statesPeriod, there were many kingdoms like Qi, Lu, Jin, Song, Zheng, Wu, Yue, etc.All the names of these kingdoms became common surnames in later ages. e the birth places and the living places of families as surnames. In ancienttimes, Shun was born in Yao so his posterity used Yao as surname. Somefamiliar surnames like Pei, Lu, and Li have relations with living places.5.The official position and profession could be used as surnames. The officialpositions like Sima and Situ are also the surnames of a family. The familywhose surname is Chu always had an ancestor taking cook.6.Surnames that are given by the monarch. It is said that the name of theemperor in Xixia Dynasty was Li, which is given by the emperor of TangDynasty.7.Take the style of the ancestor as the surname. The son of Lu emperor’s stylewas Ziyou, so his offspring took You as a surname.8.Decide a surname by myths and legends. An official in Shun dynasty said thathe was the offspring of the dragon, so he took Long(dragon) as his surname.9.Take the names of metal as surnames. In China, there are surnames like Jin,Yin, Tong, Tie, etc. which are coming from metal names.10. Take the names of plants or animals as surnames. There are many surnameslike Mei(plum blossom) , Hua(flower), Xiong(bear), etc.11.Change a surname because of taboo or other reasons. The Ming emperor inHan Dynasty tabooed Zhuang, so the people who used Zhuang as a surname changed to Yan.12. Take the artistry or occupation as a surname. The surnames such as Wu,Tao, etc. are the example of occupation.13. According to the sequence of the brothers in a family, people decided theirsurnames. We all know the statement of “Bo, Zhong, Shu, and Ji”, which is the sequence of a family, can be used as a surname.14. The minority invading in China or its fusion brought in many surnames whichChinese people did not have before.To sum up, these 14 conditions comprise almost all the origins of Chinese surnames and we can find that the sources of surnames in Chinese culture are extensive.B. The origins of English surnames1.The background information and reasons of theemergence of English surnamesIf we want to trace the origin of English surnames, we must talk about thedevelopment track of English history. After the ancient Romans, the Angles,Saxons and Jutes invaded in England and made themselves as domination. They set up tribal society but the level of productive forces was low so the people did not have surnames. (Song Rongchao 2008) In 1066, the Normans’ conquerstimulated the process of English feudalism and brought in the advancedlanguage and culture, in which it terminated the times of no surnames. Because of the sharp increase of the population, the duplication of names was serious, so people needed to identify by having a surname. They used addition such asoccupation, living places, etc. after their names to identify. In 1538, the lawstipulated that the newborn infants must register their names after the baptism, and this movement promoted the stationary use universal access of surnames.Because only the nobility had surnames at first, so it was spelled as “sir name”and then evolved into “surname”. (Wang Ying 2001)2.The kinds of origins of English surnamesAccording to the origins of English surnames, there are 13 kinds of differentorigins:(Wang 2001)1.The surnames come from fathers’ names. This method is adding –son or –safter the father’s name, for example, Jackson and Williams.2.The surnames come from the ancestor’s physiological characteristics such asappearance and figure or lifestyle. For example, if a person called peter whois a strong man, people may call him “Peter the strong” and then his namemay become Peter Strong.3.Take the occupation or artistry as the surnames. The word “carter” is the cartdriver and it is also used as a surname. There are other surnames like Smith, Cook, etc.4.Take the place they live in as surnames. The surnames like Brook, Hill, Lake,etc. are coming from the natural areas they live.5.Surnames come from animals, like Bull, Fox, etc.6.The surnames that come from colors, like White, Black, etc. If one has redhair, he may be called Tom Red.7.The people’s names in the Bible or the names of believers in Christianity canbe used as surnames, such as John, James, etc.8.Take the nation as surnames, such as Angles, German, etc.9.Take the natural phenomenon as surnames such as Rain, Frost, etc.10.Take the plants as surnames such as Flower, Rose, etc.11.Take the body parts as surnames like Arms, Temple, etc.12.Take the weapons or currency as surnames such as Pound, Sword, etc.13.Take the official rank as surnames such as Judge, King, etc.There are 35000 surnames in the UK and US, and 200 of them are frequently-used. The top ten include Smith, Jones, Williams, Brown, Davis, Johnson,Anderson, Taylor, Thom and Evans which occupy almost half of the Englishpeople.III.The comparative analysis of the similarities and differences in English and Chinese surnamesA.The similarities of Chinese and English surnames1.The similarity of the reasons of emergenceWith the development of productive forces, the population is increasingand this needs the emergency of surnames. Both in the UK and US or inChina, the surnames did not emerge until feudalism began. After the sharpincrease of people, the society needed to use surnames to identify people.This is the inevitable trend of historical development.At the beginning of surnames, both in China and the UK, they were thesymbols of nobles, but they gradually went into plain citizens after a longtime.2.The similarity of the origins from culture perspectiveAlthough there are a lot of differences in culture, the origins of surnameshave many similarities.e the living place as surnames. The surnames in all the nations inthe world are closely linked to the places’ names. In Xia, Shang andZhou Dynasty, they carried out patriarchal clan system which mainlyperformance in the fiefs. So there are many surnames coming fromstates of fiefs. In the UK, the surnames come from the names of placeswhich are usually the birth places or living places including state, town,village, river, lake, forest, prairie, island, etc.2.Take occupations and skills as surnames. In ancient China, the mainroute to pass on the skills is transferring the skill from fathers to sons.So many surnames come into being because of the occupation. Thishappens to coincide with the UK. The most common surnames likeSmith, Carpenter, Carte, etc.3.Take the names or styles of the elder generation as surnames. Acousin of Confucius had a style called Qinlao, so the later generationstook Lao as surnames. In English culture, the surname “Johnson” iscoming from “John”, getting a surname by adding –son.4.Take colors as surnames. In the book Hundred Family Surnames, itincludes the surnames like Hong, Huang, Bai, etc. At the time,choosing colors as surnames in English are more common thanChinese. The surnames such as Red, Grey, Brown, White, etc. arecoming from colors to show the preference of the ancestors or thecolor of skin.5.Take the metals’ name as surnames. We can find the surnames like Jinand Tie very common in China. There are many surnames such as Gold,Silver, etc. used as surnames in English.6.Take the official positions or titles as surnames. The offspring ofofficials in Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasty took the official position astheir surnames, like Sima, Situ, etc. In English culture, the surnamessuch as King, Queen, etc. come from titles.7.Take the names of plants or fruits as surnames.e the names of animals as surnames. There exists many surnamessuch as Ma (horse), Niu (ox) coming from animals. So does Englishsurnames.9.Get the surnames from religion. There are surnames such as Pangu,which comes from a mythological figure called “Pangu”. In Englishculture, the surnames like James, Peter, etc. are the typical examplesof religion.3.The reason of the similaritiesFirst, the reason of the surnames is because all the surnames are thesocial culture development of human beings, so the Chinese and Englishsurnames are similar to some extent. The emergency of surnames is aninevitable trend of society and the human civilizations are familiar witheach other. Although in different parts on the earth, the people’sdevelopment and social progress are the same.Second, with the emerging of agricultural society, the productivity leapedforward. And we all know that the civilization is gradually developed withthe productivity, so the surnames, which are typical examples, developedin different countries.B.The differences between Chinese and English surnames1.The difference between the reasons of emergencyThe English surnames’ emergency is mostly depended on the foreignaggression and it did not appear until 11th century. But the Chinesesurnames are quite different from English surnames. We have a time-honored history with 5000 years and we have surnames as early as XiaDynasty. The Chinese surnames’ emergency mainly depended on owndevelopment rather than the invasion (Guan Yongli 59).2.The difference between origins from culture perspectiveFirst, the Chinese surnames which come from fiefs and states take a largepart in all the surnames and have little relationship with people’s givenname. But in the UK, surnames have a lot to do with the original names.Second, the Chinese will not alter their surnames only if they needed totaboo or had other peculiar reasons. On the contrary, the English peopleare glad to change their surnames and there are specialized agencies tochange surnames in European countries.3.The reason of differenceThese differences show the diverse culture backgrounds and individualvalue orientation. The English people wanted some symbols to identifyindividuals so that they created the surnames, which reveals theindividualism in western culture and represents their desire to pursuepersonal rights. However, due to collectivism and patriarchal clan system,the Chinese surnames serve as a tool of making a distinction betweendifferent families and will not alter optionally.IV.The conclusionThe surnames of a nation are restricted by many aspects such as culture, history and society and to some extent we can say the surname is a culture, a historyand a nationality. From the comparative study, we can find some of the origins of surnames are same in two cultures. We also can realize that the reason ofemergency of surnames is similar. However, on the other hand, these two kinds of surnames are different in vocabulary and value these show.The similarities which lie in the surnames in Chinese and English culture illustrate that the human cultures have the universality and homogeny so that all thenationalities can understand each other perfectly. But at the same time, owing to the particularity, nationality and heterogeneity, all the nationalities should have mutual respect and seek sameness but keep difference. The core of cross-cultural communication is to establish and understand how people from different cultures communicate with each other and that is the major function of thispaper. In the cross-cultural communication, if we can comprehend the surname culture and discover the implied information in names, it can improve the cultural sensitivity in cross-cultural communication, achieve better two waycommunication and enhance mutual understanding. In this paper, the main topic is the surname and the implication it has, so it is closely related to the deepculture and can help us search into the cultures deeply. After the comparativestudy, we can understand the English culture and history fully and have a deep love for our own culture.Reference:Shook, Robert L. Winning Images. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1977.周德元，《中华姓氏起源与内涵》。