The Historical And Cultural Differences Of Chinese And English Surnames

As the kinship signals in the social structure, surnames are the signs to distinguish people. Surnames are the most energetic, cohesive, inspiring humanistic and historical complex in traditional cultures; they are the foundation stones to realize two national cultures. Everyone has his own surname and given name in the world. Chinese and English surname-systems have close relationship with their national histories, religious beliefs, traditional cultures, and social customs, and vividly reflect the image and evolution of two social histories, the origin and development of ancient civilizations, the melting and improvement of Chinese and English nations and the change and reform of social customs, they also provide a great deal of information for the research of two national histories and cultures. Chinese and English surnames have been growing in two different social environments, after long period of historical clearance and accumulation; they have shown various cultural peculiarities, bursting special historic charms, expressing distinct national characteristics, disclosing different valuable orientations and aesthetic standards.At the beginning of this thesis, I deal with the concepts and connotations of Chinese and English surnames. On one hand, I mainly contrast and analyze the differences of their forming time, historical origins, historical developments, cultural characteristics, national melting, and cultural connotations. On the other hand, I try to search for the main reasons from social reforms, religious beliefs, national psychologies, valuable conceptions and political and economical elements, studying the semantic meaning of surnames, disclosing the difference of Chinese and English histories and cultures, enhancing cross-cultural consciousness.This thesis is divided into four chapters.The first chapter introduces the concepts and connotations of Chinese and English surnames.The second chapter illustrates the historical differences of Chinese and English surnames.The third chapter analyzes the structural difference of Chinese and English surnames.The fourth chapter proves the cultural differences of Chinese and English surnamesIt is helpful for us to study historical and cultural differences of Chinese and English surnames, so that we can recognize the common features and unique differences of two cultural customs, grasp the developing courses of two societies. It is worth analyzing and studying the historical and cultural differences of surnames in cross-cultural communication, for it is the most important channel to enlarge Chinese and English cultural consciousness; it also plays the practical roles in enriching the historical knowledge, expanding the traditional culture, strengthening the mutual understanding and improving the cultural communication.