Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: For the translator of The Story of the Stone, it’s a very important task for him to properly render characters’ names. To study the translation of these names is of significance as well. This study is designed to analyze the translation of names in The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes and point out some improper translations, and make necessary recommendations. This study will help to know some main methods used in translation of the names. It may also make improvement in Chinese-English names translating.

Key words: name; Story of the Stone; translation

摘要：对于《红楼梦》的译者来说，姓名翻译是翻译此书时极为重要的一部分，而对《红楼梦》中人名翻译的研究也同样有着重要的意义。本研究旨在对《红楼梦》译者大卫.霍克斯译本中人名翻译方法进行分析，同时指出其中一些人名的不当翻译，并提出必要建议。本研究有利于人们了解人名翻译中所采用的主要方法，更期能对汉英人名翻译起到一些提高作用。

关键词：姓名；红楼梦；翻译

1.    Introduction
    Every nation has its own habit in naming, which is always restricted by historical, social, ethnic, and some other cultural factors. Every person’s name has a meaning. Names in novels often reflect the views of the writer. Sometimes a name can reveal a character’s personality, and even his fate. As one of China’s four famous classic novels, The Story of the Stone can be said to be more a manifestation of this. The novel is recognized through the world largely due to its translation into English. In this thesis, translation of names in the novel will be studied.
    Cao Xueqin made skillful use of characteristics of the Chinese language to name his characters. A name given by him, through its sound and form, implies something. Names in the novel are related and woven into a complicated web. They are not only names but also the indication of various characters’ intricate relations. “David Hawkes was a British Sinologist. He studied Chinese at Oxford University between 1945 and 1947 and was a research student at the National Peking University from 1948 to 1951. He was Professor of Chinese at Oxford from 1959 until 1971. From 1973 to 1983, he was a Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, of which he is currently an Emeritus Fellow”. And he is one of the famous translators of the novel, he tried a variety of ways to translate the names effectively in order to maintain the connotation of them. He left Oxford University in order to translate The Story of the Stone, but people remember him forever.