Abstract:

As we all know, everyone has his own surname and given name in the world. Surname culture is profound and has a long history. As carriers of cultures, Chinese and British surname-systems have deep relationship with their histories, religious beliefs, traditional cultures, and social customs, which reflect the origin and development of civilizations of China and Britain. Chinese and British surnames have been growing in two different social environments and have shown various cultures. Also, Surname is an inherited sign marking human beings’ blood relationship in cultures, which can reflect the inherit of a family and family descending or even national heritage. Surname is a mirror of human history and reflects the trajectory of social evolution. This paper chooses China and Britain as comparative references to analyze surnames from a cultural point of view. The significance of the research, on the one hand, is that it can help us improve common knowledge of surnames and facilitate the communication between two languages and cultures, which can help us understand the cultural connotations of surnames better. On the other hand, this research can help us improve cross-cultural awareness so as to avoid disagreements and misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication, which can make some beneficial contributions to the cultural communication between the East and the West.

Key words: Chinese and British surnames; cultural connotation; differences；cultural characteristics

摘要：

大千世界，几乎人人都有一个姓氏和名字。姓氏文化博大精深，源远流长。作为文化的载体，汉英姓氏体系与其历史、宗教信仰、传统文化和社会习俗都有着紧密的联系，也折射出汉英两国姓氏文明的起源与发展。汉英姓氏在不同的社会环境中孕育和发展，展示出不同的文化内涵。姓氏又是人类文化中标志人群血缘系统的遗传性符号，它能够体现一个家庭、一个家族甚至一个民族的传承，是折射人类历史脉搏的一面镜子和社会进化的轨迹。本文选择中英两国姓氏作为对比参照物，从文化的角度对汉语和英语在姓氏方面进行对比分析。其研究的意义在于一方面能够提高人们的姓氏文化常识，促进英汉两种语言和文化之间的沟通，更好地理解姓氏文化的内涵；另一方面在于能够提高跨文化意识，避免在跨文化交际中出现分歧与误解，为东西方文化顺利交流做出绵薄之力。

关键词：汉英姓氏；文化内涵；不同；文化特点