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英语里常见的宠物名字 “pet names” 有哪些？事实可能会让你大吃一惊：原来在英国，许多人都会用人名来给自己的宠物取名，比如 “Luna（露娜）” 和 “Charlie（查理）”。除此之外，根据宠物的性格和外貌特征来取名也是十分常见的做法。宠物的名字里还藏着哪些与英语文化相关的小知识？听节目，跟主持人步理和 Phil 一起来了解一下吧。
文字稿
（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）
Buli
大家好，欢迎收听 BBC 英语教学的 “你问我答” 节目。你或你的朋友会养宠物吗？如果让你给你的宠物起名字，你会怎么起名呢？Well, in this programme, we are here to answer a question about pet names. Hi, Phil.
Phil
Hi, Buli. Yeah, we've got a question about how pets get their names. Let's listen to the question.
Question
我注意到不少人会给自己的宠物起 “fluffy” 之类的英语名字，好像这个词的意思就是 “毛茸茸的”，就像是在中文里管宠物叫 “毛毛” 一样。请问在英语里，人们会经常用形容词给自己的宠物取名吗？都会使用有哪些含义的单词呢？
Phil
It's an interesting question that I hadn't really thought about before. In fact, I didn't really know where to start until I found out that here in the UK, insurance companies have started publishing lists of the most popular pet names.
Buli
Wow, I've never heard of that. So, is 'Fluffy' a top pet name?
Phil
Well, while it's certainly possible to call a dog or a cat 'Fluffy', it's not actually one of the top pet names. Some of the top names, which seem to be similar for cats and dogs are: 'Luna', 'Bella', 'Charlie', 'Teddy', 'Milo', names like that.
Buli
Wow, they just sound like people's names to me.
Phil
Yes, maybe it helps people see their pets as part of their family. And one thing I did notice, is that a lot of the names are the more affectionate forms. So, I mean, I can picture a dog called 'Alfie', but I'm not sure about a dog called 'Alfred'.
Buli
Me too. 说实话，我还从没想到在宠物的名字里还能看出英语文化的一些潮流和知识！刚才 Phil 提到，根据某些宠物的 “insurance company（保险公司）” 公布的数据，在英国最常见的宠物名字其实是 “Luna”、“Bella”、“Charlie”、“Teddy” 这些人名。而实际上，英国和许多英语国家的人确实很习惯用人名来给宠物取名字。毕竟，这些宠物也常常算作人们的 “family members（家庭成员）”。
不过，用在宠物身上的名字往往都是常见人名的昵称或者缩写。比如，比起给宠物起名叫做 “Alfred（阿尔弗雷德）”，人们更用 “Alf（阿尔夫）” 或者 “Alfie（阿尔菲）” 来称呼它们。对于人来说，类似的昵称或者缩写通常是亲近的朋友或者熟人使用的称呼，显示了彼此之间的 “intimacy（亲近感）”。
Phil
Yes, so to make names more affectionate in English, you can either shorten them, or add 'y', 'ie', or 'o', to the end of them.
And, while human names are popular for pets, they're not the only options. As mentioned in the question, adjectives are often used, and these might relate to the colour. For example, a grey cat might be called 'Smokey' or a ginger dog might be called 'Rusty'.
Buli
Yes, these are often a bit more poetic than just simple colour adjectives. 除了人名，正像是这位听众在问题中提到的，人们也会用一些形容词来给自己的宠物命名。比如，一只灰猫就可以叫做 “Smokey”，而一只姜黄色的狗狗则可能会获得 “Rusty” 这个名字。
不过注意了，这种取名方式往往使用的并不是特别常用的形容词，而会选择那些有些 “诗意（poetic）” 或者有比喻或象征意义的单词。就拿刚才的名字来说吧，“smokey” 和 “rusty” 的意思分别是 “烟雾缭绕的” 和 “锈迹斑斑的”，是不是听上就去比 “grey（灰色的）” 和 “ginger（姜黄色的）” 要更神秘和形象一些呢？
Phil
Sometimes names are picked to show some aspects of the pet's personality. Dogs are often given names that symbolise strength. Names like 'Buster', 'King' or 'Duke' reflect that. And it might also be why cats sometimes get called 'Tiger' or 'Lion'.
Buli
也就是说，在英语里，人们还会利用宠物的性格特点或者自己对宠物形象的联想来起名字。比如，不少狗狗会被称作 “King” 或者 “Duke”，也就是 “国王” 和 “公爵”，以此来象征它们矫健的身姿和高傲的神态。而不少猫咪则会被命名为 “Tiger（老虎）” 或者 “Lion（狮子）”，听上去就挺夸张的！
你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学制作的 “你问我答” 节目。在本期节目中，我们正在讨论英语中常见的 “pet names（宠物名）” 以及相关的文化现象。Phil, did you find anything else about pet names?
Phil
I did read that it might be easier for cats and dogs to recognise short, two-syllable names, so people sometimes chose those to make it easier to train their pet. And I also read that one of the reasons that we come up with sillier nicknames for our pets than we do for people that we know is that they can't complain about it!
Buli
So, a catchy name is not just catchy to us!
Phil
Seems like it. Though I think the most important thing that we've seen here is that while pets can have adjectives as names, it seems that more people use shortened, affectionate human names to show their love.
Buli
是的。简单来说，人们在英语中确实会用贴切的形容词来给宠物命名，比如 “fluffy”。不过，使用的通常会是那些有些诗意或者象征意义的单词。此外，大多数人很可能还是会用人名的爱称或者缩写来给宠物起名，特别是那些短小而且以 “y”、“ie” 或 “o” 等元音结尾的爱称。
Phil
We hope that we've answered your question. Remember, if you have a question that you'd like us to answer, you can email us too at: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk
Buli
你还可以通过微博向我们提问。我们的微博账号是 “BBC英语教学”。Bye!
Phil
Bye!