北京新东方学校 王江涛

The Importance of Name

Recently, it is universally acknowledged that due attention has to be paid to the importance of name. To begin with, a large number of people assert that one’s name can exert profound influence on the success of a person or institution. In addition, some even maintain that the mental health and physical fitness of a person will be influenced or even determined by his or her name.

On the contrary, it is the view of a great many people that one’s name is of little significance. I can think of no better illustration than the following ones. “Qiu”, which means “hill”, is the name of Confucius, the greatest thinker, philosopher and educator throughtout history. Likewise, another case in point is Lao Zi, the founder of philosophical and religious Taoism, whose name is “er”, which means “the ear”. These examples effectively clarify that one’s future is only determined by his striving spirit, talent or intelligence rather than some mysterious and superstitious factors such as certain names or lucky numbers.

As for me, significance should be attached to intelligence, persistence and diligence instead of one’s name. Given all the above arguments, it is high time that we put an end to this undesirable phenomenon.