VOA标准英语2011--Popular Culture Inspires Top US Baby Names

Popular Culture Inspires Top US Baby Names

 

There’s a better-than-random chance that babies born in the United States last year, 2010, were named “Bella” or “Edward.”

Those were among the 10 most popular girls’ and boys’ names, respectively, and it was more than a coincidence that they are also leading characters in the wildly popular “Twilight¹” series of young adult novels and films about vampires³.

The choice of baby names, you see, can be somewhat faddish⁴.

Certain ones, such as “Tiffany” and “Justin,” which were popular in the 1980s, become the rage, then fall from fashion.

The other day, a VOA staffer met a little boy, age two, named “Aiden.” Our colleague had never heard that name. Turns out, Aiden is the most popular boy baby’s name this year, as reported by the website BabyCenter.com. For what it’s worth, Aiden was a leading character on the highly-rated TV show “Sex and the City.”

It certainly does appear that pop culture influences Americans’ choice of baby names. Isabella, the third-most-popular girl’s name, for instance, may be an adaptation of Bella, the vampire² lover in the "Twilight" movies. “Jacob” is in the top 10, too. That’s the good-looking shape-shifter who phases into a wolf in the same series.

The lead characters in the "Twilight Saga," (from left) Edward, Bella and Jacob.

Curiously⁵, “Sophia” ranks first among this year’s girl-baby names, and “Ava” is fifth. Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner were glamorous⁶ actresses on the silver screen half a century ago.

But, as another colleague, who follows romance novels, told us, “Old-fashioned names, especially for girls, are big.”

We should point out that the top-10 list of boy and girl names refers almost exclusively to white, non-Hispanic babies. You won’t find many “Aidens” or “Masons” on the African-American and Latino baby-name lists.

1 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

2 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

3 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

4 faddish   

adj.好赶时髦的；一时流行的

参考例句：

• We ate at a faddish new restaurant. 我们在一家新开张的时尚餐馆吃饭。 来自辞典例句
• Dial get online to say, begin since thenceforth faddish. 拨号上网一说，从那时起开始风行。 来自互联网

5 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

6 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。