古怪搞笑的英国姓氏逐渐被淘汰_英美文化

古怪搞笑的英国姓氏逐渐被淘汰

"If you find the (absolute) number goes down, it\'s either because they changed their names or they emigrated," Webber, author of the study, told Reuters on Wednesday。

负责此项研究的韦伯周三对路透社表示，如果你发现姓氏的数量减少了，那可能是人们改姓或者移民了。

He said that in many cases, people probably changed their surnames as they came to be regarded as in bad taste. "It\'s because the meaning of words can change. Take the name Daft --that as a term for a stupid is a relatively recent innovation."

多数情况下，一旦人们觉得自己的姓氏没品味，他们就可能改姓。“词汇的含义会不断改变。比如随着词义的变化，Daft这个词就新增了‘愚蠢’的含义。”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Daft meant "mild" or "meek" in Old English, whereas it means "foolish" today. "That\'s why there are names which people think aren\'t really very pleasant names and you wonder why they persisted as long as they did."

《牛津英语字典》显示，Daft在古英语中是“温和”与“温顺”的含义，而如今它却是“愚蠢”的意思。“这就是为什么在人们眼中不讨喜的名字却在过去存在了许久的原因。”

Webber, whose work can be seen on the website mapyourname.com, got his data for 2008 from credit card firm Experian and mapping service Geowise. He then compared it with the census of 1881.