你的名字会引来什么麻烦吗？

 Twelve months after 9/11, a Trukish couple living in Germany tried to name their newborn son Osama bin 1 Laden 2. Officials in Cologne, where the couple lived, turned down their request, saying that this name would not be accepted in their home country.

　　9/11事件过去12个月后，一对住在德国的土耳其夫妇想给他们刚出生的儿子取名为奥萨马·本·拉登。这对夫妇住在科隆，当地官员拒绝了他们的要求，称这个名字在他们自己的国家(土耳其)将无法被人接受。
　　Although the United States might have banned Osama bin Laden for different reasons, possibly having to do with national securit, America is much more lax with non-political names. Frank Zappa had no problem getting three of his children named Moon Unit, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva-although there was some difficulty getting permission for one son to be named Dweezil. Madonna has Lourdes. Will Smith has Willard III, and Jason Lee has Pilot Inspektor.
　　尽管美国可能已经因为不同的原因——很可能跟国家安全有关——禁用了奥萨马·本·拉登这个名字，但是，对于与政治无关的名字，美国人可就随便得多了。弗兰克·扎帕没有遇到任何阻挠就给三个孩子取名为：Moon Unit(月球车)、Ahmet Emuukha Rodan(一怪物名)和Diva(歌剧女主角)。不过，他颇费了些周折才获许给另一个儿子取名为Dweezil。麦当娜的孩子叫Lourdes(卢尔德)。威尔·史密斯的孩子叫Willard III(威拉德三世)，杰森·李的孩子叫Pilot Inspektor(飞行员·检查员)。
　　Fortunately, most parents give serious thought to naming their children, with social acceptance usually being a key consideration. Boys in particular are more often given traditional names to avoid the so-called "playground effect". According to Matthew Hahn of Duke University, North Carolina, "Boys with unusual names are going to be teased mercilessly."
　　所幸的是，绝大部分父母在给孩子取名时都会认真考虑，而能否为社会所接受通常是他们所考虑的最重要的方面。人们给男孩取的名字一般都很传统，以避免所谓的“操场效应”。北卡罗来纳州杜克大学的马修·哈恩说：“名字奇怪的男孩往往会遭到无情的嘲弄。”(注：操场效应，指名字奇怪的孩子在操场上跟大家一起玩的时候，往往收到别的小孩的嘲笑。)
　　One also has to be careful to look out for hidden minefields. Consider, for example, the initial of the first name in phonetic 3 combination with the last. When I was at school in south London, my mates and I derived 4 infantile pleasure from leaving messages for our teachers to call back a certain telephone number (in this case, that of the London Zoo) and to ask for Mr C.Lion, or Mrs G.Raffe, or Miss L.E.Fant. Still other dangers await foreign names spoken in English. No Asian boy deserves the name Phuk in an English-speaking school, and I am often amused by how cautiously the name of that great German thinker Immanuel Kant is pronounced in philosophy classes in the US and Britain.
　　不过，你还得小心别踩进隐蔽的雷区。比如，要考虑“名”的首字母和“姓”在读音上连读的问题。在伦敦南部念书的时候，我和伙伴们会干些很幼稚的事情从中找乐子：我们给老师们留口信，让他们给某个号码(比如伦敦动物园的电话号码)回电话，找C. Lion(看狮子)先生、G. Raffe(长颈鹿)女士或者L.E. Fant(大象)小姐。当外国名字被用英语念出来的时候，还有别的危险等着它们呢。没有哪个亚洲男孩在说英语的学校里能消受得起Phuk(谐音fuck)这个名字，而在美国和英国的哲学课堂上，人们读伟大的德国思想家伊曼纽尔·康德(Immanuel Kant)的名字时都非常慎重，这常常让我忍俊不禁。(注：Immanuel是《圣经》中对基督的别称，意为“上帝与我们同在”，而Kant发音同can't，两个词连起来容易让人觉得是在挑战上帝的权威。还有一种可能是Kant稍不注意就会发成cunt，这个词在英语中是很不敬的脏话(类似于中文的“他妈的”)，所以人们读这个名字时都小心翼翼。)
　　If the naming of babies usually follows conservative rules, that of successful new products or services requires a completely different logic 5. Advertising 6 campaigns need to stand out in the playground, to be noticed, and sometimes even to be laughed at. Our very first reaction to great names is often amusement or confusion. What did you think of Yahoo, Google, iPod and BlackBerry when you first heard them?
　　如果说给孩子起名往往得遵循一些保守的规则，那么一个成功的新产品(或服务项目)的命名可就得遵循完全不同的逻辑了。广告宣传需要卓尔不群，需要引人注意，有时甚至需要惹人发笑。我们对于好名字的第一反应往往是觉得好笑或者感到疑惑。你第一次听到Yahoo(雅虎)、Google(谷歌)、iPod和BlackBerry(黑莓)的时候，是怎么想的呢?
　　Although it has always been very hard to sell French wine in the US, one particular brand is really going against the trend. Its name is Fat Bastard 7 Chardonnay. Of course, creative strategies have their risks, especially in the global village, there words can have different emotional associations or even completely different meanings. One just has to do one's homework. Clairol's Mist Stick should have been checked before ite launch in Germany, just as Norma's Body Bag rucksack should have been checked before its introduction into the US.
　　尽管法国葡萄酒在美国一直很难卖，不过有一个牌子却一枝独秀。它的名字叫 Fat Bastard Chardonnay(肥私生子夏敦埃酒)。当然，独特的创意也有风险，特别是在地球村中——同样的词(在不同的文化中)往往会有不同的感情色彩，甚至表示完全不同的意思。你必须做足(命名前的)准备工作。伊卡璐的Mist Stick牌喷雾卷发棒在投放德国市场前，本应该慎重一点，而诺马公司的Body Bag牌背包也应该在打进美国之前调查一下。(注：Mist Stick是一种喷雾卷发棒的品牌，但mist在德国俚语中表示“粪便”，所以引起了德国人的反感。Body Bag是德国一种旅行用帆布背包的品牌。而body bag在美国指“带有拉链的装尸带”。)
　　Before you go, remember that whenever you are launching a new product, starting a new project, or even selling a new idea, it's extremely important to think of a great title for the baby. The aim is to create something that is original, easy to remember, easy to read, easy to say, and at the same time free of cultural misunderstandings. Some years ago, a Japanese company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha made the decision to become more international and to rename their child. They changed its name to...Sony.
　　在读完本文之前，请记住，无论何时，当你推出一个新产品、开始一个新项目、甚至宣传一种新观点的时候，为你的“孩子”起个绝妙的名字至关重要。你的目标是取出新颖、好记、好读、好说的名字，而且要避免产生文化上的误解。若干年前，一家名叫Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha 的日本企业决心让自己更国际化，于是给企业改名，他们的名字改成了......Sony(索尼)。