世界上還有比起英文名更簡單的事麼？Anna, Emma, Eric，John, Jack, Jessica…總有一款適合你！完全不用像爸媽當年給我們起中文名那樣，翻遍字典都找不到一個合適的字眼。可是，你造嗎？其實你的英文名在字典裡或者歷史上還有很多根本讓你無法直視的意思。今天，世紀君就帶你一起破解那些英文名中不看不知道、一看嚇一跳的含義。取英文名的小夥伴們，且取且珍惜吧！
ANDREW
安德魯
摘下頭套的《蜘蛛俠》Andrew Garfield
雖然現在如果某人叫Andrew，那他十有八九是個漢子，但是在很久很久以前安德魯一詞還是希臘語的時候，它是沒有性別的，僅代表「人類」的含義。不信？你只要看看anthropology（人類學）, androgeny（雌性單性生殖）, philanthropy（博愛）這些單詞，就明白了，它們都有著一樣的詞根。但是，到18世紀初，如果有人叫Andrew，那他很可能是一名男僕，或者男助手。
Derived from Greek, Andrew is another first name that simply means 「man,」 making it an etymological cousin of words like anthropology, androgeny, and philanthropy. In this literal sense, Andrew has been used since the early 18th century in English as another name for a manservant or assistant (the male equivalent of an Abigail).
EMMA
艾瑪/愛瑪
飾演《哈利·波特》中赫敏的Emma Watson
這個總讓人想起簡•奧斯汀同名小說的名字，聽起來就帶著一股濃濃的文藝氣息，一定有著非同尋常的出處和由來！對於這麼想的小夥伴，世紀君只能說：你真的想多了。Emma一詞在第一次世界大戰時用作電話通訊的代號，和Pip, ack, toc一樣都只是一個字母的代稱，Emma代稱M，pip指P，ack指A，toc則指T。而自此之後，Emma一詞才開始慢慢在日常英語中使用。
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, emma can be used 「in telephone communications and in the oral transliteration of code」 to represent the letter M. Originally used only in military contexts, after the First World War emma—along with a handful of others, like pip (P), ack (A), and toc (T)—slipped into occasional use in everyday English.
GEORGE
喬治
滿滿的大叔範兒的George Clooney
名叫George的人不一定會屠龍（Saint George and the Dragon），也不一定是總統（George Washington），也許是取意一塊麵包、一年監禁、一種假髮、陶罐陶碗、飛機自動駕駛系統，甚至還可以表示「驚呆了」。另外，託美國總統喬治•華盛頓的福，「喬治」這個詞還可以指代包括一美元在內的硬幣和紙幣。打算給自己取名叫George的小夥伴們，你們有想好自己的名字取哪個意思麼？
A George can be a loaf of bread, a one-year prison sentence, a kind of wig, an earthenware jug or bowl, an aircraft’s autopilot system, and an expression of surprise. It can also be any one of a number of coins and currencies, including a dollar bill or a quarter, which depict George Washington.
HARRY
哈裡/哈利
《哈利·波特》中頭戴閃電的Harry Potter
Harry作動詞有「糾纏，攻擊」之意，還可以用來表示「毀壞，粗魯地推拽」，甚至還有「偷鳥蛋」的意思。（就沒有一點美好的含義嗎？喜歡哈利波特的世紀君森森地憂桑了……）如果在18世紀，你給自己起名Harry，那麼你可以直接叫自己「土包子」或者「鄉巴佬」。不過，這總比在中世紀叫Harry好多了，因為那時候，這是人們叫馬兒快跑時的詞語，相當於漢語裡的「駕！」。
As a verb, harry means to pester or attack, but it can also be used to mean to lay waste to something, to drag or pull something around roughly, and even to steal eggs from a bird’s nest. In the 18th century, it was also a nickname for a country bumpkin or 「a rude boor」 according to one Victorian dictionary, while in the Middle Ages it was used as a rider’s call to spur a horse forward.
JAMES
詹姆斯
《007》中總能化險為夷的James Bond
看過這麼多名字背後奇葩的含義之後，James簡直是個太美好的名字！難怪人家007的first name就是James啊！這個來自英國都鐸王朝時期的字眼，當時還叫Gim或是Jimp，有著「聰慧、高雅、合適」之意。在18世紀也表示「設計精妙、十分好用」的含義。不過，在19世紀，罪犯們開始用這個詞稱呼他們的作案工具了，因為在維多利亞時期，james有 「撬棍、鐵橇」的含義。但是，比起上面那些名字的含義，這個詞已經不能更正常了有木有？
Gim or jimp is an old Tudor word variously used to mean "smart," "elegant," or "befitting." In the 18th century, gim became gimmy or jemmy, which was used to describe anything particularly dextrous or well-designed for its purpose. Based on this, in the early 19th century, criminals began nicknaming their housebreaking tools jemmies, and because "Jemmy" is an old pet form of James, james came to be used as another name for a crowbar in Victorian English.
JOHN
約翰
柯南·道爾筆下福爾摩斯的好基友John Watson
看過樓上那些名字，小夥伴要表示這英文名已經沒法兒起了~那麼，約翰也許是個不錯的選擇，因為它的含義實在太多太多了：既有警察、管家、僕人、牧師之意、還可以指英國人、廁所（無語了）、植物、親筆籤名等等。而John之所以有「親筆籤名」之意，是因為美國獨立戰爭領袖、麻薩諸塞州州長約翰•漢考克在籤署《獨立宣言》時有意將自己的名字籤得十分醒目，在其他籤名中顯得很特別，於是「約翰•漢考克」一詞後來成為美國人非正式的籤名代用語。
Of all first names to have found their way into the dictionary, John is probably the most fruitful. It can refer to a policeman, a butler or a manservant, a priest, an Englishman, a toilet, a signature, a plant, or an unknown or otherwise unnamed person. The vast majority of all these meanings are probably derived from nothing more than the fact that John is such a common name, but its use as another name for a policeman is based on an English corruption of the French gendarme, while as a signature it’s famously derived from John Hancock, the Governor of Massachusetts whose elaborately written name dwarfs all of the others on the Declaration of Independence.
MOLLY
莫莉
《神探夏洛克》中阻礙卷福、花生在一起的好姑娘Molly Hooper
如果有哪個名字從內到外散發著女性的氣息，那麼TA一定是Molly，「她」可以指：愛爾蘭女子、工人階層的女子，以及娘娘腔的男子……順帶提一句，mollycoddle在英文中是「嬌生慣養、寵壞」的意思。不過，Molly還是一種生活在北極、大西洋和北太平洋的海鳥的別名。如果你是個霸氣側漏的「女漢子」，那麼在選擇Molly作為英文名的時候一定要三思喲~
A molly can be an Irishwoman or a working class woman, a weak or effeminate man (the molly in mollycoddle, incidentally), and, in 18th century slang at least, a man who 「concerns himself with women’s affairs.」 It’s also a nickname for the northern fulmar, a seabird of the Arctic, Atlantic, and North Pacific Oceans.
REBECCA
麗貝卡
經典電影《蝴蝶夢》的英文名原來就叫Rebecca
Rebecca雖然是一個女孩子的名字，在字典裡卻有著一個霸氣的含義「毀掉一座大門」。這源於19世紀40年代發生在威爾斯西南部的一系列稱為Rebecca Riots的大遊行，一夥自稱「Rebecca幫」的人因為不滿天價道路費，毀掉了像大門一樣的收費路障。而這夥人的「幫名」則來源於《聖經•舊約•創世紀》中的人物Rebecca，其中有這樣一段話：「願你的後裔得著仇敵的城門」。叫Rebecca的小夥伴們，有沒有覺得你們的名字瞬間豪邁起來？
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the girl’s name Rebecca can be used as a verb to mean 「to demolish a gate.」 In this sense it derives from the Rebecca Riots, a series of demonstrations in southwest Wales in the early 1840s in which groups of so-called 「Rebecca gangs」 attacked and demolished a series of tollgates in protest at the high charges being imposed. The gangs took their name from the Old Testament's Rebecca, who is blessed with the words 「let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them」 in the Book of Genesis (24:60).
TONY
託尼
電影《鋼鐵俠》的主人公Tony Stark
如果你是一個走在時尚前沿的美男子，那麼叫Tony再合適不過。因為，從19世紀開始，Tony就有「時髦的、漂亮的」含義。到了20世紀二三十年代，tony變成了一種在時尚圈流行的顏色——紅褐色。
Tony was a reddish-brown color popular amongst fashion designers and dressmakers in the 1920s and '30s. Before that, in the late 19th century it was used an adjective to mean 「stylish」 or 「smart,」 presumably in the sense of something striking a good 「tone.」
VICTORIA
維多利亞
「貝嫂」 Victoria Beckham
這個被英國皇室氣息所包圍的名字最初來自拉丁語「勝利」一詞，在中世紀指代「獲勝時的喊叫」。而在19世紀之後，這個詞還被用來命名了一種金幣、企鵝、睡蓮、羊毛織物、李子，以及一種頂可摺疊的二人座馬車……因為他們都是根據英國維多利亞女王的名字命名噠~
Victoria is the Latin word for victory, which in the Middle Ages was 「employed as a shout of triumph,」 according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The name has since also been applied to a golden sovereign minted in the 19th century, a species of domestic pigeon, a type of water lily, a woollen fabric, a type of plum, and a two-seater horse-drawn carriage with a collapsible roof, all of which are named in honor of Queen Victoria.
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