The Cultural Meaning of Our Daughters’ Chinese Names
In Chinese culture, it is important for a name to have a positive symbolic meaning. Elder relatives often help determine children’s Chinese names before they are born.
Names serve as important identifiers. They are also powerful. They often have emotional and cultural connections. That is why it’s important to pronounce a person’s name correctly.
When someone decides to dismiss a person’s name because it is “too challenging,” it sends a signal that the person is not worthy enough for someone to learn his or her name. For those with ethnic-sounding names, this can lead to feelings of erasure and unwelcomeness.
Making an effort to correctly pronounce a person’s name is a way to show respect and inclusivity.
The Cultural Meaning of Our Daughters’ Chinese Names
In this video, I explain how we came up with our daughters’ Chinese names prior to their births. With the help of my parents, we chose meaningful names that reflected their heritage and connected them together.
Thank you to Indigrow for suggesting I create a video about how we named our daughters as part of their Instagram series about the importance of names.