世界各国都有“三大姓”的说法，中国有张王李；英国是Smith, Jones, Williams; 美国是Smith, Johnson, Carson; 法国是Martin, Bernard, Dupont; 德国是Schultz, Mueller, Shmidt; 苏联是Ivanov, Vasiliev, Deternov。一些古怪搞笑的姓氏逐渐会被淘汰，请看下面有关英国姓氏变迁的有趣新闻：

　　The number of people in Britain with surnames like Cockshott, Balls, Death and Shufflebottom--likely the source of schoolroom laughter--has declined by up to 75 percent in the last century.
　　一些容易成为校园笑柄的英国怪姓在过去一个世纪里下降了75%，这些姓氏包括考克夏特、鲍尔、戴斯和苏佛尔鲍特姆。

　　A study found the number of people with the name Cock shrank to 785 last year from 3,211 in 1881, those called Balls fell to 1,299 from 2,904 and the number of Deaths were reduced to 605 from 1,133.
　　一项研究表明，1881年有3211人以Cock（在俚語中有“男子生殖器”的意思）为姓，去年这个数字下降至785人；姓Balls（意思同Cock）的从2904人下降到了1299人，姓Deaths（死亡）的人由1133人降为605人。

　　People named Smellie decreased by 70 percent, Dafts by 51 percent, Gotobeds by 42 percent, Shufflebottoms by 40 percent, and Cockshotts by 34 percent, said Richard Webber, visiting professor of geography at King's College, London.
　　伦敦国王学院地理系客座教授理查德韦伯表示，姓Smellie（臭）的人口减少了70%，姓Dafts（愚蠢）的减少了51%，其它减少的姓氏有：Gotobeds（上床）42%，Shufflebottom（苏佛尔的屁股）40%，Cockshotts（一种游戏）34%。

　　"If you find the (absolute) number goes down, it's either because they changed their names or they emigrated," Webber, author of the study, told Reuters on Wednesday.
　　负责此项研究的韦伯周三对路透社表示，如果你发现姓氏的数量减少了，那可能是人们改姓或者移民了。

　　He said that in many cases, people probably changed their surnames as they came to be regarded as in bad taste. "It's because the meaning of words can change. Take the name Daft --that as a term for a stupid is a relatively recent innovation."
　　多数情况下，一旦人们觉得自己的姓氏没品味，他们就可能改姓。“词汇的含义会不断改变。比如随着词义的变化，Daft这个词就新增了‘愚蠢’的含义。”

　　According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Daft meant "mild" or "meek" in Old English, whereas it means "foolish" today. "That's why there are names which people think aren't really very pleasant names and you wonder why they persisted as long as they did."
　　《牛津英语字典》显示，Daft在古英语中是“温和”与“温顺”的含义，而如今它却是“愚蠢”的意思。“这就是为什么在人们眼中不讨喜的名字却在过去存在了许久的原因。”

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