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: Finally! Cantopop superstar Andy Lau is touring Taipei starting tonight. B: Yeah, he is set to perform at the Taipei Arena for four nights. A: It seems like he is still energetic on stage even at the age of 63. B: Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai and Arron Kwok are dubbed Hong Kong’s “Four Heavenly Kings.” A: Hopefully, the four “kings” can visit Taiwan more often. A: 終於啊！香港天王劉德華今晚起將在台北開唱。 B: 他預計在台北小巨蛋，一連熱唱4天！ A: 看來劉天王雖然63歲了，在舞台上還是一尾活龍。 B: 他和張學友、黎明、郭富城還被稱為香港「四大天王」。 A: 希望天王們以後能更常來台灣。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Imagine the thrill of diving into the ocean, holding your breath, and exploring underwater worlds without any modern gear. This is the life of the haenyeo, South Korea’s sea women. Armed with only diving goggles and handmade tools, these skilled divers venture into the ocean’s depths to manually harvest marine products like abalone and seaweed. The haenyeo tradition, dating back to the 17th century, was originally dominated by men. However, a combination of wars and deep-sea fishing accidents created a shortage of male labor. Women’s greater resistance to cold proved a blessing to the struggling communities. As a result, they began
A: Originally, supergroup Mayday was also going to launch four charity concerts starting today. B: I know, they were trying to boost Hualien’s tourism industry. A: And all 14 artists from B’in Music were going to join the free concerts. B: But they just announced all shows will be postponed due to Typhoon Kong-Rey. A: Well, safety first. A: 原本今天起，天團五月天的公益演唱會也將開跑。 B: 我知道，主要是為了振興花蓮的觀光業。 A: 「相信音樂」旗下14組歌手，聽說這次都會共襄盛舉。 B: 結果主辦單位宣布所有演出因颱風康芮延期。 A: 嗯安全至上吧。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
For people with hearing loss, clear communication can seem like a distant dream. However, advancements in technology are __1__ this barrier. TranscribeGlass, a wearable device, can translate spoken words into text displayed on a transparent screen directly in the user’s field of vision. This innovation enables people with hearing disabilities to fully engage in conversations. Assistive technology like captioning is an important means of communication for people with hearing loss. Captioning software on cellphones can be a helpful option, but it has limitations. Many users often find themselves __2__ to constantly glance down at the phone screen, which disrupts eye contact
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