两万英镑为宝宝起名

 　　These days it seems that giving your baby some ridiculously weird¹ name has become the norm.

　　现在，似乎给孩子起个稀奇古怪的名字是司空见惯了。

　　Names like John, James and Emma are out, and monikers inspired by celebrities² and their offspring are in.

　　约翰、詹姆斯和爱玛这样的名字太过老套了，而明星和星二代的名字却让人们脑洞大开。

　　Actress Gwyneth Paltrow named her children Apple and Moses, singer Beyonce gave birth to Blue Ivy³ and Kim Kardashian has a daughter called North.

　　女星格温·帕特洛给她的宝宝们起名为“苹果”和“摩西”，歌星碧昂斯给孩子起名蓝色常春藤（Blue Ivy），而金·卡戴珊给她女儿起名叫“北方”（North）。

　　两万英镑为宝宝起名

　　But what if these names aren't crazy enough for your child? What if you want something really unique?

　　如果你觉得这些名字还不够标新立异，还想要真正独一无二的名字，那该怎么办？

　　Luckily for you, a Swiss company will now come up with a truly individual name for your baby - at a cost of ?21,000.

　　这里有个好消息，一家瑞士公司可以为您的孩子起一个实实在在的好名字，但要花费2.1万英镑！

　　Erfolgswelle has been creating names for brands and products since 2003, but branched out into naming babies after director Marc Hauser noticed a friend of his arguing with his partner.

　　从2003年起，这家名为Erfolgswelle的公司就一直在为一些品牌和产品提供起名服务。但有一次，公司高管马克·豪泽(Marc Hauser)发现他的朋友因为给孩子起名与伴侣而产生争执，此后该公司的业务领域逐渐延伸到了给婴儿起名这个新领域。

　　"The choice was causing tension between the couple, so he thought I could help,” he told Le Matin.

　　在接受《晨报》（Le Matin）采访时，马克·豪泽说：“选用什么名字让他们关系紧张，他认为我可以帮点儿忙。”

　　After helping⁴ his friend, Mr Hauser, who has worked with companies such as Nestle and Alstom, saw the business opportunity in extending the service to parents across the world.

　　在帮助了朋友以后，豪泽凭借多年在雀巢以及阿尔斯通等大企业的工作经验，他看到了商机，意识到可以将起名服务拓展至全球的父母。

　　He created a team of 13 naming specialists and historians, who check numerous databases to ensure the names they come up with do not exist anywhere else. They take into account the culture and nationality of the parents and also make sure the name doesn't have a double-meaning or negative connotations in the 12 most popular languages.

　　他组建的13人团队里既有起名专家也有历史学家，为了确保所起的名字从未有人使用过，他们需要检查海量的数据。在起名的时候，他们也会综合考虑父母的国籍和文化因素，确保名字在12种最流行的语言里没有歧义或负面涵义。

　　“We rely on culture, the origin and the desires of our customers,” Mr Hauser said. “The pronunciation and spelling need to be intuitive. If a person has to repeat his name four times on the phone and no one understands it, it is a failure.”

　　豪泽先生说道：“文化、国籍和客户的希望都是我们要考虑的因素。名字的发音和拼写都要直观明了，如果一个人在与人通话时要把自己的名字重复四遍还无法让人理解，那这个名字就是个失败”。

　　The whole process takes four to five weeks, hence the large fee.

　　收费高昂是有原因的，因为起名的全过程耗时四到五周。

　　"It's the same work, so the same rate, as for the development of a brand name internationally."

　　“给人起名和给国际品牌起名的工作内容并无二致，所以收费也要保持一致”。

　　Vocabulary

　　ridiculously: 可笑的

　　moniker: 名字

　　celebrity: 名人

　　offspring: 后代

　　tension: 紧张

　　connotation: 内涵

　　intuitive: 直觉的

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

3 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。