A Qualitative Study Of English Names Adopted By Chinese English Learners From Cross-cultural Perspective

This study aims to investigate how do English native speakers accept and comment on the English names adopted by Chinese English learners.More and more Chinese English learners tend to adopt English names due to increasingly frequent cross-cultural communication.However,people who can speak English fluently do not really understand English naming culture.Therefore,it seems that the first impression during cross-cultural communication can be damaged.According to previous literature,most studies were done from three perspectives:cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries,name and identity construction and influence of using English names on English teaching.Few scholars explored the attitudes of English native speakers toward English names adopted by Chinese English learners from cross-cultural perspective.This study,mainly utilizing qualitative research method and supplemented by quantitative research method,investigates 198 students from CICE and CFL in GXNU through questionnaires and interviews five English native speakers,trying to answer two questions:(1)What are the major patterns of the English names adopted by Chinese English learners?(2)How do these names get accepted and commented by English native speakers?The results of the questionnaires show that the English names adopted by Chinese English learners tend to be from four patterns,namely naming after celebrities,borrowing from English names,mimicking Chinese names and naming after personal preferences.The further investigation indicates that these English names in English native speakers’ eyes are basically categorized into three degrees:reasonable,unreasonable and weird.Through deep interview,the results show that about 37% students’ English names are categorized into unreasonable and weird names because of the influence of cultural transfer and lacking of English naming culture.Based on these conflicts this study offered some valuable suggestions.This study can offer some implications and enlightenment for anyone in need,what’s more,it can avoid the unnecessary embarrassment during cross-cultural communication.