兩萬英鎊為寶寶起名

These days it seems that giving your baby some ridiculously weird name has become the norm.

現在，似乎給孩子起個稀奇古怪的名字是司空見慣了。

Names like John, James and Emma are out, and monikers inspired by celebrities and their offspring are in.

約翰、詹姆斯和愛瑪這樣的名字太過老套了，而明星和星二代的名字卻讓人們腦洞大開。

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow named her children Apple and Moses, singer Beyonce gave birth to Blue Ivy and Kim Kardashian has a daughter called North.

女星格溫·帕特洛給她的寶寶們起名為“蘋果”和“摩西”，歌星碧昂斯給孩子起名藍色常春藤(Blue Ivy)，而金·卡戴珊給她女兒起名叫“北方”(North)。

But what if these names aren't crazy enough for your child? What if you want something really unique?

如果你覺得這些名字還不夠標新立異，還想要真正獨一無二的名字，那該怎么辦?

Luckily for you, a Swiss company will now come up with a truly individual name for your baby - at a cost of £21,000.

這里有個好消息，一家瑞士公司可以為您的孩子起一個實實在在的好名字，但要花費2.1萬英鎊!

Erfolgswelle has been creating names for brands and products since 2003, but branched out into naming babies after director Marc Hauser noticed a friend of his arguing with his partner.

從2003年起，這家名為Erfolgswelle的公司就一直在為一些品牌和產品提供起名服務。但有一次，公司高管馬克·豪澤(Marc Hauser)發(fā)現他的朋友因為給孩子起名與伴侶而產生爭執(zhí)，此后該公司的業(yè)務領域逐漸延伸到了給嬰兒起名這個新領域。

"The choice was causing tension between the couple, so he thought I could help,” he told Le Matin.

在接受《晨報》(Le Matin)采訪時，馬克·豪澤說：“選用什么名字讓他們關系緊張，他認為我可以幫點兒忙。”

After helping his friend, Mr Hauser, who has worked with companies such as Nestle and Alstom, saw the business opportunity in extending the service to parents across the world.

在幫助了朋友以后，豪澤憑借多年在雀巢以及阿爾斯通等大企業(yè)的工作經驗，他看到了商機，意識到可以將起名服務拓展至全球的父母。

He created a team of 13 naming specialists and historians, who check numerous databases to ensure the names they come up with do not exist anywhere else. They take into account the culture and nationality of the parents and also make sure the name doesn't have a double-meaning or negative connotations in the 12 most popular languages.

他組建的13人團隊里既有起名專家也有歷史學家，為了確保所起的名字從未有人使用過，他們需要檢查海量的數據。在起名的時候，他們也會綜合考慮父母的國籍和文化因素，確保名字在12種最流行的語言里沒有歧義或負面涵義。

“We rely on culture, the origin and the desires of our customers,” Mr Hauser said. “The pronunciation and spelling need to be intuitive. If a person has to repeat his name four times on the phone and no one understands it, it is a failure.”

豪澤先生說道：“文化、國籍和客戶的希望都是我們要考慮的因素。名字的發(fā)音和拼寫都要直觀明了，如果一個人在與人通話時要把自己的名字重復四遍還無法讓人理解，那這個名字就是個失敗”。

The whole process takes four to five weeks, hence the large fee.

收費高昂是有原因的，因為起名的全過程耗時四到五周。

"It's the same work, so the same rate, as for the development of a brand name internationally."

“給人起名和給國際品牌起名的工作內容并無二致，所以收費也要保持一致”。

Vocabulary

ridiculously: 可笑的

moniker: 名字

celebrity: 名人

offspring: 后代

tension: 緊張

connotation: 內涵

intuitive: 直覺的