Alexandra BarefootInstructor Lynn RaymondUWRT 1102-E0221 January 2015Writing Prompt 2In America when it comes to naming practices it is typical to be give a first and personal name, a middle name, and then to take your fathers last name. It is also common for sons to take their father, or grandfathers personal name as their own. In my family names are passed down. My oldest brother, Wesley, was given my dads middle name as his first, and our great, great grandmothers maiden name, Andrew, as his middle name. My second oldest brother, Stuart, has an original first name, but was given my dads mothers maiden name, Earnhardt, as his middle name. I have an original first name, but was given my moms dads name, Linley, for my middle. However, it is spelled Lynley. My younger brother was names after my dads brother, Miles, and his middle name copies our other grandmothers maiden name, Reid. So in our family personal, middle, and maiden names are passed down. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, children are given names for their meaning which may disclose something about the individual rather than American names that typically do not offer any information or meaning. Children may also be named after the circumstances they were born under. A naming practice in some parts of Africa is to give a western nick name, or an additional western name which are usually biblical. Biblical naming is a prominent trend in America as well. In China people use many different names to it different circumstances. They may have a social name, business name, married name, school name, and a westernized name. China is opposite from America in that the family name comes before the personal name. Chinese personal names are not gender specific. I found it interesting that in Chinese culture one or two characters in the personal name are shared among members of a generation usually for the same sex, but sometimes for both. This is usually to indicate a family relationship or to easily determine generations within a family. In Royal families personal names are passed down to every new generation. They are called regnal names, and are usually followed by a regnal number in Roman numeral form. The number is an ordinal number depending on which generation you are.

Works Cited A Guide to Names and Naming Practices.fbiic.gov. The United Kingdom, Mar. 2006. web. 22 Feb. 2015.