別輕易問非洲人的名字，因?yàn)?..

They illuminate the past as well as aspirations for the future

If he is in a tight spot, says Trouble Kalua, people mention his name, asking, “What do you expect?” Shortly before his birth in Malawi, his father had lost his job as a bus conductor, impoverishing the family. Then the baby nearly died. “This boy is trouble,” his father said. “His name is Trouble.”

Across Africa names can have a story behind them. Yewande, for instance, is a Yoruba name meaning “mother has paid me a visit”, given when an older female relative dies just before a girl is born. Kiptanui may hint at a difficult birth for mothers who speak one of the Kalenjin group of languages in Kenya.

But southern Africa stands out for nominative creativity, at least when it comes to English names. Ask Zimbabweans about their school friends and you will hear an eclectic register: Lovemore, Hopewell, Innocence, Tedious, Patience, Knowledge, Fortune, Brilliant, God Knows. A Malawian (himself Golden) lists friends named Goodfriday, Wisdom, Iron and BoyBoy.

Names illuminate power and oppression. Under apartheid in South Africa many black people took on English names, some under pressure from bosses too lazy to pronounce their real ones; others to avoid standing out in a system designed to strip black people of their history, dignity and identity.

In his memoir, “Born A Crime”, Trevor Noah, a comedian, says that since African names were used at home, English ones often received little thought. He recalls the example of his friend Hitler, who was named because the original Hitler “was so powerful that…black people had to go and help white people fight against him”.

In Zimbabwe children were long given African names with meaning. This practice switched after British colonisation, when having an English name was seen as a way of getting ahead. Names may refer to circumstances around the birth, a quality parents see in the child, an aspiration for them—or even for the country.

Under white rule some children were called Democracy, Freedom or, allegedly, Polling Station. Other names suggested progress. One venture capitalist recalls school friends named Computer and, unless he was winding your correspondent up, Crankshaft.

Do names shape character? Zimbabweans wryly noted that one Reward Marufu, a late brother-in-law of Robert Mugabe, did well out of his relative’s corrupt regime. But Mr Kalua says he is Trouble by name, not by nature. “Great sense of humour, friendly, patient, kind, loving. Nothing like trouble at all!”

Names, and the language they are in, reflect changing times, too. In Zimbabwe, whose economy is collapsing, one comes across people named No Money. In many places African names are supplanting English ones. In recent years in South Africa, Enzokuhle (“to do good” in Xhosa), has become one of the most popular names, perhaps inspired by a popular song, “Enzo”.

It may be that names such as Salad Nthenda will become relics. The Malawian, whose mother ate lots of vegetables when pregnant, says his “name felt good from day one”. He loves the “uniqueness”. Although he is teased at times, he does not give a toss.

參考譯文

非洲南部的人名起得既富有創(chuàng)意又發(fā)人深省

這些名字不僅反映了歷史，還照亮了人們對(duì)未來的期望

麻煩·卡盧亞說，人們每每提及他的名字，都在想他是否陷入困境，都會(huì)問他：“你的名字有什么含義?”在他出生于馬拉維的前不久，他的父親失去了公共汽車售票員的工作，這讓整個(gè)家庭變得一貧如洗。然后孩子差點(diǎn)兒死了。他的父親說：“這個(gè)孩子真是個(gè)麻煩，于是他的名字就叫麻煩。”

在非洲，每個(gè)人的名字背后都有一個(gè)故事。例如，葉萬德是一個(gè)約魯巴語名字，意思是“媽媽來看我了”，當(dāng)一位女性長(zhǎng)輩在女孩出生前去世時(shí)，這個(gè)女孩就會(huì)叫這個(gè)名字?；账量赡馨凳局粋€(gè)肯尼亞卡倫津語族母親在分娩時(shí)的艱難歷程。

不過非洲南部的人們?cè)谌∶膭?chuàng)意方面表現(xiàn)突出，至少在取英文名方面是這樣的。問津巴布韋人他們?cè)趯W(xué)校的朋友，你會(huì)聽到五花八門的名字：加倍去愛、一切安好、天真、乏味、耐心、知識(shí)、財(cái)富、聰明、天知道。一個(gè)馬拉維人(他自己的名字叫金色)列出了他朋友的名字，分別是耶穌受難日、聰慧、鐵和男孩男孩。

名字還反映了權(quán)力和壓迫。在南非的種族隔離制度下，許多黑人都取了英文名，其中一些人是迫于老板的壓力才取的英文名;另一些人則是為了避免在一個(gè)旨在剝奪黑人歷史、尊嚴(yán)和身份的制度中引人注目。

喜劇演員特雷弗·諾亞在他的回憶錄《生來有罪》中寫道，因?yàn)樵诩依锿ǔ６际怯梅侵廾?，所以英文名往往起得很隨意。他回憶起他的朋友希特勒的例子，這個(gè)朋友之所以起了這個(gè)名字是因?yàn)樵?jīng)的那個(gè)希特勒“太強(qiáng)了……黑人不得不去幫助白人對(duì)抗他”。

在過去很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間，津巴布韋人都會(huì)給孩子起一些具有意義的非洲名字。這種做法在英國(guó)殖民后發(fā)生了轉(zhuǎn)變，那時(shí)起個(gè)英文名被視為出人頭地的一種方式。名字可能與出生時(shí)的環(huán)境有關(guān)，也可能是父母希望孩子擁有的品質(zhì)，對(duì)他們甚至對(duì)國(guó)家的期望。

在白人統(tǒng)治下，一些孩子被起名為民主、自由，甚至(據(jù)稱)還有投票站。還有一些名字則寓意著進(jìn)步。一位風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資家回憶起他在學(xué)校時(shí)的朋友，有叫計(jì)算機(jī)的，甚至還有叫機(jī)軸的(你確定這不是在逗記者玩)。

名字能塑造性格嗎?津巴布韋人諷刺地指出，羅伯特·穆加貝已故的姐夫獎(jiǎng)賞·馬魯夫從其親戚的腐敗政權(quán)中獲利頗多。而卡盧亞說，他的名字雖然叫麻煩，但與本性恰恰相反。“幽默感、友好、耐心、善良、有愛心。一點(diǎn)也不像個(gè)麻煩!”

名字以及起名所用的語言也反映了時(shí)代的變化。在經(jīng)濟(jì)崩潰的津巴布韋，人們會(huì)遇到一個(gè)叫“沒錢”的人。在許多地方，非洲名字正在取代英文名字。近年來，在南非，恩佐庫(kù)勒(在科薩語中意為“行善”)已經(jīng)成為最受歡迎的名字之一，也許是受一首名為“恩佐”的流行歌曲的啟發(fā)。

像薩拉德·恩森達(dá)這樣的名字可能會(huì)成為歷史。這位馬拉維人的母親在懷孕時(shí)吃了很多蔬菜，他說“從一開始就覺得自己的名字很好聽” 他喜歡這種“獨(dú)一無二”。雖然有時(shí)會(huì)被他人嘲笑，但他并不在乎。

來源：經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人

單詞解析

1.impoverish [?m?pɑ?v?r??]

v. 使貧困;使枯竭

e.g.

We need to reduce the burden of taxes that impoverish the economy.

我們需要減少使經(jīng)濟(jì)貧困的租稅負(fù)擔(dān)。

2.apartheid [??pɑ?rta?t]

n. 種族隔離制度

e.g.

He praised her role in the struggle against apartheid.

他贊揚(yáng)了她在反對(duì)種族隔離制的斗爭(zhēng)中所起的作用。

3.supplant [s??plænt]

v. 取代;代替

e.g.

He may be supplanted by a younger man.

他可能會(huì)被一個(gè)年齡比他小的人取代。