A lot goes into naming one’s own young here, you don’t just pick names out of a hat in Chinese cultures, translated…
My great grandfather is a scholar, my impressions of him came from this photograph that hung high on the walls of my childhood home living room, because he’d died very young, even my own grandfather didn’t hold any memories of him either.
I studied in the Chinese Department back in my university career, I’d picked up a ton of beliefs of Confucianism, and I’d recalled how my paternal grandfather was named “Der-Hsiu” by my great grandfather, I’d understood, that that, was the expectations that a scholar had for his offspring.
Because of some family matters, I’d started, flipping through our genealogy charts, and, I’d sorted through those relatives I’d never even met, but related to me by blood, and I’d gained an in-depth understand of how and why my great grandfather had named his own young. My eldest great uncle was called, “Shang-Chien”, my second eldest great uncle who’d died in childhood was named, “Shang-Huei”, and my grandfather’s youngest brother was called, “Lien-Shen”, I’m thinking, that it was, because my youngest great uncle was born after my grandmother; but what surprised me the most, was my third eldest great uncle was called, “Dzou” (Go).
I’d looked closer down toward the bottom of that genealogy chart, my third eldest great uncle was born on June 16th, but he’d died on the same year on June 19th, it was heartbreaking to read; this name, is from the heartbreak of a father, watching his own young die too soon.
My great grandfather died too young, and wasn’t able to see the future of all the children he’d named with great care, but, this heart, this thought of his had, accompanied his children growing up, and made them have restraints on themselves when they handled their separate affairs, and it’d, made us, the offspring proud, and moved too.
So, a name, is NOT just a name, especially NOT for the Chinese, because the people in Asian cultures tend to think very carefully when they named their young, they’d put their expectations for the offspring, into naming their young.