Thursday, August 17, 2006

What's in a Name?

With the birth of the baby comes great stresses...

And at the moment, the biggest stress I have is trying to figure out a Chinese name for my little Stacey! I've got so much work to do, but finding a meaningful (and a nice-sounding!) name for her seems to be so much more interesting at the moment!

Anyway, here are the options (with intonation in brackets):
  1. Anastasia Ho Pan-En - Anastasia (=resurrection) HO.P.E.! 何 盼 恩
    1. : Pan (4) = Hope
    2. : En (1) = Grace (named after Faith's sister Grace who was at the birth of Stacey!)
    • We love the meaning of this, but it doesn't sound the best and doesn't 'look good' in English - together all this means Resurrection Hope and Grace
  2. Anastasia Ho Pei-En - 陪/裴/佩 恩
    1. : Pei (2) = to accompany
    2. : Pei (4) = has no meaning - just a feminine sounding word
    3. : Pei (4) = to respect
    4. : En (1) = Grace
    • Together this means: Resurrection Hope with Accompanying Grace or Resurrection Hope, Respect and Grace
  3. Anastasia Ho En - 何 恩
    • Just a shorter version which is not as common, sounds nice I think, but not as content rich obviously!
So, what do you all think? Please vote for your favourite or suggest another word!

17 comments:

island said...

moi vote for 3. i like single name ;)

Anonymous said...

i vote for 2(3), sounds nice in chinese

andy

Anonymous said...

yeah 2(3).
how about
施 si (1) 恩 en(1)- give grace....

sounds smoother in chinese too

Alex

Anonymous said...

or 思 si (1) 恩 en(1) - think grace

same sound, almost same writing.

Alex

Anonymous said...

施 = give
思 = consider,think

they are both quite common chinese "christian" name

Ben and Faith said...

So is common good or bad? Who is this 'anonymous' person? Please provide your name! (unless you really want to remain anonymous!)

Sze Wen said...

yeah i think 2(3) as well!!

quop said...

hmm... without knowing much about naming chinese-style, i vote for 2.3.

reason? single names are nice/different, but 3 just doen't quite strike me... i like the sound of 2 over 1, and out of those in 2 i like the pei(4) rather than pei(2). and out of 2.2 or 2.3, i think it's always beetter to have something with meaning than just for the sound. i like names with meaning. very biblical :)

what about 平 as the middle character? this gives you hope, peace and grace... and a bit of a homophone with the 何平/和平, and a not-quite-there 平恩/平安, which is really stretching it a bit but not too bad for a sleep deprived and normally English brain at half past midnight ;)

i think i'll call my kids 小明 and 小紅, haha.

Ruthie said...

yeah...pei 'en sounds nice...
that is 佩恩

how about Jia'En?
佳恩?
Excellent Grace...

hmz...
I think I'm gonna get a headache if I have kids in future...but that's like a big leap for me...considering I don't even have a partner, let alone marry!
ahahahaha!!

Ben and Faith said...

Yes... what a headache! I couldn't sleep properly last night thinking about it! I guess names aren't that important, yet they are as well...
R&J: 'what's in a name: a rose by any other name...'
Bible: names almost confer onto a person the quality/characteristic of that name - better chooe wisely!
Pragmatic: names last for your whole life (unless you're someone like 'the-guy-formerly-known-as-Prince'!!)
Also if it sounds funny, you will get teased at school!

Anonymous said...

hello! i actually like the first (pan-en).. but that's mostly cos it isn't a common chn-chn name... is tt a gd or bad thing? haha

Anonymous said...

of the ones listed, i prefer the first, for its beautiful meaning.

suggestions:

(i) mei-en (beautiful grace)

(ii) kai-en (victorious grace)

Jess Joseph said...

I like pan-en as well, but also what Alex suggested: 施 si (1) 恩 en(1). I think it sounds really nice. Having "En" as the 2nd initial sounds great.

Jess Joseph said...

Oh, I was going to say as well -- If you choose Pan-En, you'll have Faith, Hope & Grace! :)

Anonymous said...

how about li(4) en? also means beautiful grace... :)

Anonymous said...

ben and faith,

congrats on birth of lovely stacey! it was good to read on the blog on your news and happenings at esf...we have such fond memories of all of you. little matthew is just 2 months older and keeping 2 of us very busy scurrying round (matt is definitely a people person he bawls whenever left alone! see if stacey is - she looks so much like faith...maybe she will have faith's gregarious nature too ;)

In Christ,
Jen&Kevin Lee + Matthew in Singapore

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed a lot!
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