新认识一个女孩，拿到她的名片，赫然看到英文名字是Vivien。

一阵激动。赶忙问"怎么会想起到用Vivien做英文名字的？"，得到的答复是"看到就用了，没什么原因"，不由有点失望。

之所以激动，因为这是我遇到的第一个以Vivien而非Vivian作为英文名字的女孩，失望则是原来这不过是个巧合。

打开大多数人的MSN，估计昵称叫Vivian的肯定有，而且往往还不是一个。这个名字在都市白领中，绝对属于高频英文名字，而且几乎清一色是用于女性。

但是--这实际上该是一个男用名，只在很少的场合才会用作女用名，这个词对应的女用名形式该是Vivien。这也是为何我看到取名Vivien的女孩时会一阵激动--我原以为找到了真正了解这两个名字真正用法的人。

可惜，不过一场误会。这里找来牛津名字词典对两个名字的解释，大家可以仔细了解一下。

先是真正的女性用名Vivien：

Vivien(f.), (formerly m.) Originally the more common Old French form of VIVIAN, but used by Tennyson in his poem Merlin and Vivien(1859) as a female name in place of the usual feminine form VIVIENNE; in this case, it may represent an altered form of some Celtic name. The actress VivienLeigh (1913-67) was originally christened Vivian.
Variants: Viviann(e) (also used in Scandinavia), Vivean.
Short forms: Vi, Viv, Vivi.

接着是应该做男用名的Vivian：

Vivian(m.), (occasionally f.) English: from an Old French form of the Latin name Vivihttp://www.oxfordreference.com/data/unicode/Mb/amac.gifnus (probably a derivative of vivus alive). The name was borne by a 5th-century bishop of Saintes in western France, who protected his people during the invasion of the Visigoths. As a woman's name it has sometimes been used as an Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Béibhinn meaning 'white lady'.
Variant: Vyvyan.
Short forms: Vi, Viv, Vivi.