What's in a name

Well, we got home safely and returned with something new...a Chinese name for Bennett! We had been having a hard time choosing his name and needed some local help to pick one that sounds good and is appropriate.

Before I explain Bennett's name I will describe Austin's Chinese name. Our family name in Chinese is Gao (which is a common last name, it also means tall), which has a "G" sound like Gaertner. So all our children will have that as the first character in their name. In China the family name is always first. So Austin's name is Gao Wei Wen 高伟文 (pronounced like Gow Way When). Wei means great, which is the same meaning as Austin and wen is part of the word for literature or culture...which we chose because we were told it sounds good and he loves to read. Now many parents (well, the few now that have more than one child) will give each child the second character the same and have the third one be different. So for example we could have named all our (boys anyway) Gao Wei and then something else. BUT the Wei in Austin's name is very unique to him, since it means great. In China children are often called by one of thier character's, repeated twice. When they get older than they are called their whole name. So Austin is called Wei Wei right now by Chinese friends. So...back to Bennett.

So we met this Chinese guy this weekend whose English name was Ben...so I was curious and asked him what his Chinese name was. It turns out it was Bin, meaning goodness or courteous. I liked the sound of that. I was reminded that when Bennett was baptized, my dad gave him a "life verse" that "goodness and mercy shall follow him all the days of his life", so it seemed very fitting. So we asked this guy if he had a suggestion for a third character (you can have two or three, but three makes your name more unique). So ( Without knowing Austin's name) he suggested Gao Wen Bin 高文彬 - the same wen that means culture or literature from Austin's name- and Bin (pr0nounced Bean, also appropriate for our little red bean). Apparently there is an idiom that is Wen Zi Bin Bin-a cultured gentleman, so wen and bin go well together. So this way Austin and Bennett can have share the character Wen (even though the order is reversed) and the character meaning "culture" is especially appropriate to our family, given our interests and work! So I am really excited about Bennett's Chinese name and it is really cute- he will go by Bin Bin. You can see all the thought that goes into a Chinese name. Traditionally Chinese didn't always give the child a name until their 100th day, which is a big time to celebrate, similar to our idea of a child's first birthday, but even more so.

So, here our are cute boys, Wei Wei and Bin Bin! Today Austin kept saying "Bin Bin" to Bennett and Bennett would laugh and Austin would do it again. Sorry I did not get it on video this time.

Wei Wei and Bin Bin