Lately I have been thinking a lot about names. This is because we as parents have the responsibility of selecting our children’s names. Traditionally, all we need is one single name since most chinese family typically have a format to follow such as Tan XXX YYY where either XXX or YYY would have been a generational name to identify/link our siblings and cousins together. In my Tan family case, the XXX for my generation is Kuang while Elijah (my son) ‘s generation is Yuan.

Unfortunately for me and my wife, Yuan is the chinese character for dollar 元 .  Unless you’re a fan of money, being a dollar man doesn’t really go well with me. Anyway, this whole issue of finding a chinese name (YYY) for elijah and also in some way, whether Yuan will sound good with it sparked a lot of discussions and mind you, praying and asking God to help us get a name fit for our wonderfully made and magnificently destined by God, son.

Chinese to English

One topic of discussion was how we have been translating chinese names to english. I wish I could just write the chinese character on sheet but that won’t help achieve much in and english literate society. So traditional, we do a direct translation like in my case, Tan Kuang Khye. Word for word. Simple?

Think again how many chinese literature have been translated word for word to english? I doubt a chinese literature would make much sense directly translated into english. It would break all kinds of grammar and sentence formation rules etc. Similarly, there are *evidence* that directly translating chinese names to english do have it’s mishaps. How often are we called, in my case, Kuang tan? This is essentially my middle name. I’m glad I have an english first name, Joel.

Essentially, this let me think about how if we could reorder things around. In any format, english or chinese, we have the “family name”, “middle name” and “Personal/identifying name”. In mandarin, this would be “family name” + “middle name” + “Personal name”. Similarly, in english format (following most western english countries), it would be “Personal name” + “middle name” + “family name”. So maybe I should have been called Khye Kuang Tan over in the Western country WHILE at the same time, if I pen down my name in mandarin, I should write Tan Kuang Khye.

Unfortunately, things have been so long done in a direct translation that reversing the Khye and Kuang will be a “taboo” to our chinese families. How sad a simple misinterpretation can lead to such rules.. Similarly, we must always try to understand the Bible the way it was written back in it’s time and language before putting it into context to our lives.

Family Generational Names

I must admit I am proud that my Tan family has it’s own book dating back to some ranked Imperial/government officer. Basically, ever since my *forefather* went and settled down in Hainan, we have been maintaining a written record of each offspring + some spouses  from generation after generation. My name and my brother’s name are also in the book. There is probably some *care taker* at the *ancestral temple* that looks after this. Sending some money is the usual way of getting things done.

So what’s the problem there? Sounds like a good system in place – convenient too…

Well, firstly as mentioned above the current generation will use the word Yuan  元. Both Elijah’s parents are not jumping for joy for the word but on the contrary, it seems to have no added value at all other than to maintain tradition.

Following from that, maintaining tradition is not that simple. We haven’t yet asked the question what are all those 26 words (the family words) referring to. Unfortunately, none in my famiy in Malaysia knows what the complete 26 words are.  So we have no idea what we are chanting generation after generation through our name. That’s right.. chanting.. It’s easy to forget that repeating something usually results in something… e.g. remembering it. Are those 26 words some that will resonate with our believes? What if it’s something that emphasize materialism etc. I don’t know if I want that to be in my family values knowingly or unknowingly.

Ancestral temple, are we being worshipped as our names are there? Do remember our forefathers were most likely ancestral worshippers in China. There is a big difference in worship/praying to our ancestors and honouring them. Easy to link together but it’s not the same thing. Spirituality is the key difference.

The only access to the words is to write in mail requesting for the one generation or pay a lot of ang pows when visiting that ancestral temple. For those who don’t know, visiting a family place in China will lead to giving out ang pows (money) to every single family member, from close ones to even those that may have some link to the family. This could mean the whole village!

Furthermore, will this be able to survive the generations to come who are most likely to be away from Malaysia and Hainan. Generations that are unlikely to master the chinese language.

Gender biased

Another obvious trait passed on from the old days are the favouritism shown towards boys.

Wall, imagine family names could be from the father or mother. tracing back would be too difficult since it would be confusing to firstly identify is the family name is paternal or maternal or both.. To me, it’s just like the toss of coins to decide and it seems the boys to inherit family name. Putting aside all arguments, it’s a simple and effective solution!

Fine, how about that famous 2nd name we siblings and cousins inherit. It’s quite obvious that girls often get left out (on the contrary freedom of name). Family poems used for 2nd name are more often than not biased towards boys. If it doesn’t fit for girls, than girls were not considered when choosing that poem.

Anyway, before I get distracted, are we supporting a system that is biased to boys? How can be better it. Remember, it doesn’t have be a poem but a collection of words. Sometimes I think we have the power in hand to make things better. Rather than to discard something potentially good but incomplete, we should try to make it better.

System or purpose

After all said and done, it’s great to have a family book and ancestral system but in truth, it serves a purpose – to record the family tree. So the book and system is great until unless there is a better way to do it. For example, inclusion of spouses and family lines from daughters. Isn’t it sad if tradition dictates that daughters can’t trace their maternal side?

For my family, the book will always be there. No one will rewrite (obviously) and it’s value is still immeasurable. However, continuing it whether through it or another more effective method should not dictate our lives. After all, it’s a tool. The book method and poem method is great especially in times where literacy and access to data is limited.

I thank God we are all children of God, we are all brothers, sisters, mums and dads to each other in Christ.

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