The fun of having names with meanings

Our school has two Chinese P.E. teachers. One of them is a muscular, 6 foot tall man. His surname is Xiao, which means "small."

The second teacher is around 5 and half feet tall, and is a diminutive (though strong) martial arts expert. His surname is Gao, which means "tall."

What an ironic twist of fate - to be such close coworkers with such mismatched names!

But such is life in a culture where names have much more specific meanings that they do in English-speaking lands. Whereas I cannot look my name up in the dictionary (other than books that try to decipher their often obscure entymologies), the Chinese can.

I appreciate that names have such meaning - it gives parents an opportunity to inspire and influence their children in a way that lasts a lifetime!

Recently, a list was circulated around school of the meaning of all of our Chinese staff's given names. The meaning of some are fairly broad and straighforward: "strong," "humble," and "ocean," for example. Others, however, show a little more creativity on the part of their parents: "studious young woman," "universal intelligence," "constitutional government," and "loyal masses."

Think about that the next time you hear about celebrities in America giving their children strange names...At least they are not being named using political terms!

-alan