Thinking about Chinese naming customs last week, I recalled how my husband, Erik, and I struggled to solve our own challenge: how could two non Chinese speaking people possibly give their daughter the appropriate [Chinese] name she deserved. Here’s our story.
Several months before we met our daughter, we received what is called a “referral,” a file that contains all known information about her. In it, we learned that the orphanage had named her “Fu Chen Yang.” Chinese place their last names first, and when we arrived in China, the orphanage director told us that all the girls there were called “Fu” because “Zheng Fu” means, “government takes care of them.” Our facilitator, Lin, explained that the name was a reflection of Chinese thinking that the government is the “biggest boss.” For the same reason, “Guo” is also a popular orphanage surname because it means, “state” or “country.”
The second and third characters of Elisa’s Chinese name (or in English, her first name), were ChenYang, meaning “morning sun.” The documents in her package explained, “We named her ChenYang that is wish she is a morning sun and always have a start and the hopes.” Nice! Still, we had lived in Hong Kong long enough to understand the importance of naming.
Fortunately, my husband’s colleague, Herbert, was a feng shui naming master. He told us he would be honored to participate in our daughter’s naming process. We gave him Elisa’s photo, orphanage name, and time and date of birth. A couple of weeks later, we received an email from Herbert with recommendations. While his lengthy explanations were in English, the names themselves were just as you see them below.
Hmmmm… How to choose?
Herbert explained that the first and last characters were the same so we really only had to choose the middle character or first part of her name.
1) The Surname would be Zhuang, a rough approximation of my husband’s surname:
Zhuang means “A place to gather together or live together in a large family.”
2) He proposed “Yi” as the second character of the first name:
Herbert said this was the most important part of her name. He chose the concept of Yi based on Hexagon 27 and an associated etching. When I searched “What is Hexagon 27?” on the Internet, I was directed to the Chinese I Ching. When I searched, “What is the I Ching?” I learned, more or less, that this ancient text, sometimes called the “Book of Changes,” refers to an ancient Chinese philosophy focused on the balance of opposites and acceptance of the inevitability of change, among other things (better explanations are welcome!).
Herbert explained it this way: “in order to achieve a goal, one must work hard but with proper nourishment [of body and soul.” In other words, “one must be good to oneself.” The character can also be found in the characters for the “Summer Palace” outside Beijing, Yuan Yi He, literally “The Garden of the maintenance of harmony.”
3) The first character of the first name included the following:
a) To be a gentlemen or a lady (Pinyin = Jun)
b) Filial piety
c) Wonderful
This was an entirely new way to think about naming, and my husband and I were unsure about how to proceed. In the end, we sent all of Herbert’s choices, along with the orphanage name, ChenYang, to several Chinese friends. Luckily, they made the decision easy. They vote was s unanimous and our daughter became Zhuang JunYi.
Herbert also provided some insight into our daughter’s fortune. He told us that Zhuang JunYi was a powerful name and would be a subconscious reminder for her to live a good life. The total number of strokes, thirty five, was lucky and would provide a stable life. One friend expressed concern that too many strokes would mean she may marry late in life, but this seemed fine to us.
In Chinese culture, it is important to use the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth to adjust a person’s “life balance.” Herbert told us that the three characters in our daughter’s new name, Zhuang, Jun and Yi, represented fire, fire and earth. This, he explained, was good because fire makes the earth firm and would give her a solid foundation, which also complemented the meaning of her name.
And so our daughter became Zhuang JunYi. Needless to say, the process for choosing her western name, Elisa, was less complex (though certainly not easy). Still, we appreciated the opportunity to participate in a custom so foreign to our own and hoped it would help build a bridge for our daughter between her native and adoptive lands.