核心畫面

Picture an English full name laid out on a line: the personal part comes first, the family part comes last. The first name is the front part — the piece that belongs to you alone, not to your relatives. Because it is the personal piece, using it is also a small social move: the moment two people start using each other's first names, the distance between them has .

可以想成一個畫面:英文的全名排成一行,個人的那一段在前,家族的那一段在後。first name 就是前面那一段——只更多收起可以想成一個畫面:英文的全名排成一行,個人的那一段在前,家族的那一段在後。first name 就是前面那一段——只屬於你一個人的名字,不是跟親戚共用的。也因為它是「私人的那一段」,拿出來叫別人就帶有一點關係上的訊號:兩個人開始互相叫 first name,距離通常就拉近了。

From the word’s history

Recorded in Middle English as firste name; by surface analysis simply first + name, the name written first in the line.

來源記載中古英語有 firste name 的說法,拆開就是 first(最前面)+ name(名字):寫全名時排在最前面的那個名字。名稱來自位置,而在英文的排法裡,最前面那一段剛好就是屬於個人的名字。

Wiktionary entry for first name, supplied in packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:18376307:3286)

Two branches

名字本身

最直接的用法:指全名裡屬於個人的那一段。

noun · A2

The name your parents give you, which in English comes before your family name. Any name you have before the family name counts as part of it, so a person with a middle name has more than one.

名字(名)

用名字稱呼=關係的訊號

從「這一段名字是私人的」延伸出來:願意讓對方用,就代表關係已經不那麼生疏。

noun · A2

If two people are on first name terms, they know each other well enough to use each other's first names, instead of saying Mr Huang or Doctor Lin.

熟到可以直呼其名