Chat attack

two-character surname

复姓

(fùxìnɡ) 

A: I was taking online classes one day and noticed that a new classmate had a name with four characters. I thought her surname was a two-character surname, but later learned that her parents gave her a three-character given name. 

我那天上网课,看到一个新同学的名字是四个字的。我以为她的姓是复姓。结果后来发现,她父母特意给她取了一个三个字的名。

(wǒ nàtiān shànɡwǎnɡkè, kàndào yīɡè xīntónɡxué de mínɡzì shì sìɡèzì de. wǒyǐwéi tāde xìnɡ shì fùxìnɡ. jiéɡuǒ hòulái fāxiàn, tā fùmǔ tèyì ɡěitā qǔle yīɡè sānɡèzì de mínɡ.) 

B: I feel that two-character surnames aren't seen that often, but coincidently I have several friends who have two-character surnames. There's a Sima, a Ouyang and even a Taishi. 

我觉得复姓不是很常见。但很凑巧的是我有几个好朋友都是复姓。有姓司马的、欧阳的,还有姓太史的。

(wǒ juédé fùxìnɡ bùshì hěn chánɡjiàn. dànhěn còuqiǎo de shì wǒyǒu jǐɡè hǎopénɡyǒu dōushì fùxìnɡ. yǒu xìnɡ sīmǎ de. ōuyánɡ de, háiyǒu xìnɡ tàishǐ de.)

A: There are a lot of stories behind those names. Like Sima and Taishi used to be the titles of official positions that evolved into surnames. 

复姓背后典故也蛮多的。像司马和太史在古代都是指官职,后来演化成了姓氏。

(fùxìnɡ bèihòu diǎnɡù yě mánduō de. xiànɡ sīmǎ hé tàishǐ zài ɡǔdài dōushì zhǐ ɡuānzhí, hòulái yǎnhuà chénɡ le xìnɡshì.)

Illustration: Xia Qing/GT