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  3. Baby-Naming Trends [A] Over the last fifty years, American parents have radically increased the variety of names they give their

Baby-Naming Trends [A] Over the last fifty years, American parents have radically increased the variety of names they give their

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问题         Baby-Naming Trends
[A] Over the last fifty years, American parents have radically increased the variety of names they give their children. In the 1950s, the 50 most popular names accounted for 63.4 percent of all boys born, and 52.1 percent of all girls. But by 2004, the top 50 names covered only 34.6 percent of the boys and 24.4 percent of the girls. As more people move to the United States and use popular or traditional cultural names, the variety of names increases. Also, parents from all ethnic backgrounds are now more likely to search out less common names for their children.
    Common and Unusual Baby Names
[B] Is it better to have a name common to your age group, one that everyone has heard, or an unusual name, one that may cause comment when people first hear it? Psychologists and sociologists have studied this question for years and still cannot agree on the answer.
[C] On the one hand, a great deal of evidence shows that when people hear a particular name, they have strong and specific stereotypes about what sort of person bears that name. For example, most Americans expect a woman named Courtney to be attractive and successful but one named Bertha to be loud and obese. Research has found that teachers may give a higher grade to a school paper by a student named Michael than to one by Hubert, even though the papers are identical.
[D] On the other hand, research that compares actual people with common first names to those with unusual names often shows the latter having an advantage. People with unusual first names are more likely to be listed in Who’s Who and are more successful as psychologists. College women with uncommon first names score higher on scales of sociability and self-acceptance; they are also more likely to have a positive sense of individuality, which helps them to resist peer pressure.
[E] Why do these different studies seem contradictory? Part of the answer is that the first set of studies forced people to form impressions based on the name alone. In contrast, recent research shows that if a name includes information about an actual person, then it will compensate for most of the negative effects of stereotypes, and creates a different context in which to view a name.
[F] Another reason for the conflicting results from this research is that uncommon names and names with negative images are not necessarily the same. Boys called Deny or Quinlan and girls called Cosima or Prairie will have a chance to create their own first impressions, free from established stereotypes. They can develop a positive, individual self-concept unhampered by the negative images that go along with names such as Adolf, Ethel, Myrtle, or Elmer.
[G] In the final analysis, of course, your choice of a common or unusual name depends on what you believe is best for your child After all, there are many occasions in life, such as submitting a job application or seeking admission to college, where a name does have a chance to create a positive image on its own.
Having a popular name such as Emily or Jacob might be an advantage. If, on the other hand, individuality and creativity are especially important to you, a more unusual name might be better.
Cultural and Ethnic Influences on Baby Names
[H] Throughout the world, each child is assigned a sound or series of sounds that will be his or her name. Because that name is a part of the language of the child’s parents, it immediately identifies the child as belonging to a particular society. So our names identify us both as individuals and as members of a group.
[I] In many parts of Africa, a child’s naming day is a festive occasion that usually occurs a week or so after the birth. Girls are named sooner than boys, but only by a day or two. An older person bestows the name, first by whispering it to the baby, because a newborn should know his or her name before anyone else does, then by announcing the name to everyone attending the ceremony.
[J] Many Native Americans developed naming systems in which a person’s individual name included the name of his or her clan (宗族). For example, all the members of a clan that has the bear as its totem animal have names relating to bears, such as Black-Bear Tracks and Black-Bear Flashing Eyes.
[K] In some groups, children are given secret names that are not revealed until the child reaches puberty (青春期) or another important stage of life. In other Native American nations, an event that occurs at a child’s birth may become the child’s name. Today, a person living on a reservation may have one name at home but a different name when he or she is off the reservation.
[L] Jewish names are some of the oldest names in use today. A Jewish boy is named officially when he is circumcised (行割礼) on the eighth day after his birth. A girl is named as soon as possible after her birth. Traditionally, an Ashkenazic Jewish child is not named for a living person for fear that the Angel of Death will mistake the child for the older person if their names are the same. Media Influences on Baby Names
[M] Many names that suddenly become popular are inspired by figures in the media, whether they are real actors or athletes, such as Ashton Kutcher or Jalen Rose, or fictional characters such as the mermaid Madison in the film Splash.
[N] Of course, modern parents are not the only ones affected by the media of their day. Thelma, for example, became a popular name for English and American girls after British author Marie Corelli invented it for the beautiful heroine of her bestselling novel Thelma, published in 1887.
[O] But since the 1950s, television has been the most effective medium for creating new name fashions. Mallory, for example, became popular for girls when the character called Mallory appeared on Family Ties in the 1980s. Although a few American parents had named sons Dylan after Welsh poet Dylan Thomas or perhaps musician Bob Dylan in the 1960s, the name exploded in popularity in the 1990s after the character Dylan McKay appeared on Beverly Hills, 90210.
[P] People often assume that when parents take a name from the media they want to honor the star or character who has the name. This is rarely the case. Most parents today don’t want their children to have common names, but at the same time they want the names they choose to "fit in". They are therefore always on the lookout for "different but not too different" names, and when such a name gets a lot of exposure in the media, many parents discover it at the same time.
[Q] Even horrific characters can have a positive impact on a name’s use if the name itself fits in with fashionable sounds. Gage, Peyton, and Samara are examples of scary film characters who nevertheless inspired namesakes (同名的人). Names in the news can also have an effect. The number of American girls named Camille increased by 50 percent in 1969 and 1970 after Hurricane Camille hit the Gulf Coast. And the number of girls named Katrina increased in 2006 in spite of the name’s association with a huge natural disaster.
[R] Any media popular with people in their 20s and 30s can create a fashion for a name. Popular music inspires names both through songs, such as Rhiannon, and singers, such as Shania. Today’s young parental generation is now starting to discover baby names like Raiden and Rinoa through video and computer games. Some parents are still inspired by novels, as shown by names such as Arya and Novalee. Science fiction and fantasy books, video games, and films are particularly noticeable as name sources, probably because these stories often require writers to create brand-new names.
In some culture, parents usually avoid giving their children a name shared by a living person.
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答案L
解析 根据a living person定位到L段。末句提到，传统上日尔曼犹太人的小孩不会取活着的人的名字，以防死神将他们错当成同名的大人带走。本题句子是对原文的同义转述。
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