Metaphorical meaning of proper names and its reflection in the original and in translations

The article discusses the problem of the national-cultural identity of the metaphorical meanings ofproper names in the literary text based on the material of Russian, French and Chinese languages. The methodological basis of the study is the following provisions and concepts: 1) theory of cognitive metaphor; 2) interlanguage semantic derivation as a mechanism for translating metaphors; 3) the concept of the translation space, where harmony acts as a criterion for the qualitative translation and recreation of metaphorical meanings. The material of the study is a humorous discourse presented in the stories of A. P. Chekhov and their translations into French and Chinese. The result of the work is identification of the pragmatic potential of metaphorization in the process of translation which is due to the recreation of the humorous effect of the original text.