02. 婴儿起名风潮 | 语境中的语法

According to one study, based on an analysis of 325 million American babies born between 1880 and 2007, the use of common baby names has decreased steadily since 1983, with the greatest rate of change during the 1990s. In 2023, the last year for which figures were published, the UK’s Office for National Statistics found that 64,560 unique names were being registered each year – twice as many as in 1999. This year, according to the US parenting website and app BabyCenter, Juniper, Malachi and Emersyn made it into the top 100 names for the first time. In Japan, the spread of unique names has been so vast that this year the government clamped down on kirakira (shiny or glittery) names, after parents had sparked criticism by naming children after brands or famous characters, including the Pokémon Pikachu, Naiki (Nike) and Pū (as in Winnie-the-Pooh), or others, such as Akuma (Devil), that made headlines.

阅读原文 (The Guardian) ↗

🧐 思考与解析

1. "...the use of common baby names has decreased steadily since 1983..."
这里为什么用了现在完成时？

这里使用了现在完成时 (Present Perfect)，主要是因为句中出现了时间状语 since 1983。

它强调的是一个“从过去持续到现在”的趋势。普通名字的使用率下降，不仅仅是发生在1983年（那样会用一般过去时），而是一个始于1983年并一直持续到现在的过程。

2. "...found that 64,560 unique names were being registered each year..."
这里为什么用了过去进行时？

这里使用了过去进行时 (Past Continuous)：were being registered。

作者是在描述 In 2023 这个特定过去时间点正在发生的情况。使用进行时态赋予了数据一种“动态感”——这不仅仅是一个静止的统计数字，而是当时正在持续发生的社会现象（名字正在被注册中）。同时也与主句的过去时 found 保持时态一致。

3. "...after parents had sparked criticism by naming children after brands..."
这里为什么用了过去完成时？

这里使用了过去完成时 (Past Perfect)：had sparked，是为了明确“过去的过去”这一时间顺序。

句子的时间线如下：

家长引发批评 (Sparked criticism) —— 最早发生的动作 (过去完成时)
政府进行管制 (Clamped down) —— 后来发生的动作 (一般过去时)

因为“引发批评”发生在“政府管制”之前，为了体现这一因果和先后关系，必须使用 had done。