摘    要

美国人的姓极其复杂。美国是“民族大拼盘”，世界各色人种混居杂处，带来各自的文化、语言、血统，也带来各自的姓氏，稀奇古怪、五花八门，美国姓氏之杂必居全球之冠。据美国学者艾尔斯登•史密斯在他的专著《美国姓氏》一书中考察美国姓氏的来龙去脉，美国人姓氏大致四种来源
1、取自父（或祖）的名字，姓由父（或祖）的名字演变而来。
2、姓以地形、地势而得。
3、由浑名而成。祖上有人有某些生理特征，家族由此而得姓。
4、由祖先职业而成。
美国人的姓氏用于区分同名的人，且五花八门，在正式场合也以姓氏作为称呼，可见美国人性格特点是比较务实，更多地关注物质世界, 偏重对具体、客观、实在的事物进行直接地描述。美国人不重视“地位”，尤其是社会地位, 大家都喜欢直呼其名。

关键词：美国人，姓氏，来源，性格

ABSTRACT

American surname is extremely complex. The United States is a "melting pot" people with different colors. They come here bringing their own cultures, languages, origins, as well as their family names which are strange and varied. Therefore American family names can be seen as the most complex in the world. According to what American scholar Elston Smith wrote in his monograph "American names", a book study about the origin of the American last names, generally four sources of American surnames:
1, taken from father (or grandfather)
2, taken from the geography, topography derived.
3, made by a nickname. Some people′s ancestors have certain physical characteristics, then family names derived from these.
4, formed by the occupation of ancestors.
American family names are used to distinguish between people who share the same first names. In formal occasions, we can still call a person by his family name, which shows that the feature of American character is relatively pragmatic. They concern more about the material world, emphasis on specific, objective, and indeed things. Americans do not value "status", especially social status. They all like to call him by his family name.

Key words： Americans, surnames, origin, character

1    Introduction
The topic “American family names” is quite a hot topic and has been studied by many professors and learners. When I was a child and had touched English for a short time, I found that the family names of the characters in the English book were very strange, such as Green, White, Armstrong and even Orange. Then my father – an English teacher of a middle school told me that the family names of Americans were very interesting. Almost everything I could imagine could be used as a family name. Today I chose this topic, so I can know more about American family names.