Planning on naming your baby Jacob or Emily? Be forewarned, those two names topped the US most popular list again last year — Emily for the 11th year running.
The 2007 top baby names list released by the US Social Security Administration for Mother’s Day showed Americans consistent in their love for classical names: Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel topped out the top five on the boys side, while Isabella, Emma, Ava and Madison were favorites for girls.
But the list showed that plenty were striving to be unique, creating wholly new names like Nevaeh — “heaven” spelled backwards — or sometimes just taking extreme orthographical liberty with better-known monikers.
PHOTO: AP
“For reasons likely to puzzle baby name experts around the world, American parents have become infatuated by names, particularly for their sons, that rhyme with the word ‘maiden,’” the SSA said.
It counted 34 such names in the top 1,000 for boys, including homonymic variations Jayden, Jaden, Jaiden, Jaydon, Jadon, Jaeden, Jadyn, Jaydin, Jaidyn and Jaydan.
Despite the freewheeling spellings, spokesman Mark Lassiter said the SSA “would resist any legislative efforts to standardize the spelling of names,” according to an agency statement.
Aside from variants on “heaven,” the SSA pointed to the popularity of philosophical ideals for girls’ names: Destiny (No. 41), Trinity (No. 72), Serenity (No. 126), Harmony (No. 315) and Miracle (No. 461).
Fast-rising names included Danica, now at No. 307, for top female race car driver Danica Patrick, and JaMarcus, No. 743, for football star JaMarcus Russell.(AFP)
想幫小孩取名為雅各或艾蜜莉嗎？先提醒您，這兩個名字去年再度衛冕全美最受歡迎的名字，而且艾蜜莉已經蟬連十一年冠軍了。
美國社會安全局為迎接母親節公佈了二ＯＯ七年嬰兒命名排行榜，結果顯示美國民眾對經典名字的偏好不變，其中排名前五名的男孩名字還包括：麥克、伊森、約書亞和丹尼爾，而伊莎貝拉、艾瑪、艾娃和麥德森也是最受喜愛的女孩名字。
但排行榜也顯示，很多人想給孩子取個特別的名字，他們自創了一些新名字，像是「Nevaeh」（「Heaven（天堂）」的倒寫）；有些則是隨意拼寫大家耳熟能詳的名字。
社會安全局表示：「美國的父母為兒子取名時，尤其喜歡和「maiden」押同韻，這讓全世界的嬰兒命名師感到不解。」
在前一千個最受歡迎的男孩名中，就有三十四個這類同音不同拼法的名字，包括「Jayden」、「Jaden」、「Jaiden」、「Jaydon」、「Jadon」、「Jaeden」、「Jadyn」、「Jaydin」、「Jaidyn」和「Jaydan」。
儘管有這些隨性的拼法，社會安全局發言人馬克．萊錫特在一份聲明中表示，局方「不希望政府立法將姓名拼法標準化」。
除了各種「天堂」的變型名字外，社會安全局也指出一些有哲學意涵的女生名字，如：排名四十一的黛絲特妮（天意）、排名七十二的崔娜蒂（三位一體）、排名一百二十六的薩瑞娜蒂（安詳）、排名三百一十五的哈孟妮（和諧），以及排名四百六十一的米芮蔻（奇蹟）。
排名迅速竄升的名字包括三百零七名的丹妮卡，其名人代表為頂尖女賽車手丹妮卡．派翠克，還有排名七百四十三的賈馬克思，其名人代表為足球明星賈馬克思．羅素。（法新社�翻譯：袁星塵）
A: And how about the other star signs? B: Libras can benefit from multiple perspectives, Scorpios will be tough as steel and Sagittariuses may travel around. A: Cool, what’s next? B: Capricorns may take the lead, Aquarius may start a new life and Pisces should be well prepared for action. A: I hope we’ll have a lot of good fortune in the Year of the Snake. A: 其他的星座運勢如何？ B: 「天秤座」左右逢源、「天蠍座」百煉成鋼、「射手座」志在四方。 A: 還有呢？ B: 「摩羯座」一馬當先、「水瓶座」脫胎換骨、「雙魚座」蓄勢待發。 A: 希望大家在蛇年能好運旺旺來！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Despite advancements in bicycle security, millions of bicycles are stolen every year. A revolutionary bicycle lock, called “SKUNKLOCK,” takes a proactive approach to deterring thieves. __1__, SKUNKLOCK releases a noxious chemical that could cause would-be thieves to vomit and effectively discourages them from continuing their efforts to steal the bicycle. While conventional locks can be defeated by determined thieves using specialized tools, SKUNKLOCK’s dual approach of physical resistance and chemical deterrence is highly effective, making it a formidable __2__ against bike theft. The U-lock is made of high-tensile carbon steel, which can withstand attempts to break it using brute
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