My Name

Teng Hui Jiang
9-20-15

          Every beautiful Chinese name has a meaning behind it. My full name is Teng Hui Jiang. It means to be successful and have a long goal in my life. My parents want me to get success and have a good future. When I was growing up I asked my mother how does my name came from, then she said; According to our family history book in your generation, if you are male, your name must be Teng something, If you are female, must be Yan something. She also said that when my grandfather thinking a name for you he come up a Chinese idiom that says ‘’ Fei Huang Teng Da’’.After I heard what my mother said, I tried to find out what it means. It means to be suceessful.The character Fei means fly. When people want to do something successfully, they must have a long view of their dream and they have to fly higher. The character Huang means yellow. In Chinese history, people always think that yellow symbolized that king’s color and to be a winner. The character Teng and Da means rich and stable. In Chinese, the pronunciation between fei and hui are little bit similar, so my grandfather took hui to replace fei. That made my name Jiang Teng Hui. In Chinese, we put the last name in front, so that it was how it was created. I feel very thankful that my parents gave me a such as a beautiful name with a lot meaning. I love my name and I miss my childhood.

    

My Name

          My name is Shuyi. In Chinese, it means a quiet pretty lady. I love my name because I am a really quiet girl, so this name really fits me. I do not know why my parents chose these words for my name. Maybe they knew I would be a quiet girl when I was born. Also, my cousins’ names are similar to mine, such as Shuxian, Shuyu, Shuyan. I have heard my mother say, my grandparents designed my cousins’ name and my name to include “Shu” because “Shu” usually describes how pretty the lady is. That is they hope for all of the girl in the family.

            I usually find my name in old Chinese poems, and it always represents the pretty lady. My name has an ancient and nice meaning, and that is why I love it. When I tell my name to Chinese friends, who I meet, most of them will say, “Oh, this is a good name, and easy to remember.” When that happen, I feel very proud because my name is Shuyi.

Zalina Orozobaeva

ESL 100

August 28, 2015

        Gold Born

            My name is Zalina. My mom gave this name. First, she wanted to give me Alina. Coincidentally, her friend was pregnant at the same time as her, and gave birth before my mom. Her friend gave her daughter the name ‘’Alina’’. My mom was very sad that her best friend gave the name to her daughter because she loved this name. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to give me the same name. Then she decided to give me the name Zalina even though she didn’t know what it meant.

            I never liked my name before because I didn’t know the meaning, and in my school where I studied, nobody had the same name. I loved another name Angela (in English Angel). For me this name was softer and more beautiful. I thought if my mom would call me Angel then I would be more gentle and feminine than I actually was.

            When I met my boyfriend after high school, he asked about my name and its meaning. I told him that I didn’t know because it was not a common name in Kyrgyzstan. The next day he told me about the meaning of my name. He said it meant ‘’Gold Born or Aristocratic’’. Its name comes from Arabic, but not Zalina. It was Salina just in my country people say ‘’Zalina’’. Now I don’t complain about my name. It is not so popular, but very easy to remember, and I am glad that my name is Zalina, not Angel or Alina.

Swallow

My name is Xiaoyan. In English Xiao means small, and Yan means is a kind of bird-swallow. However, in Chinese, Yan means not only is a swallow but also a symbol of freedom. I have two sisters that are older than me. Their names are Xiaolian and Xiaoting.  I was born in the winter, and in the Chinese year of the monkey. Monkeys are supposed to be clever, free and brave. Therefore, my mom wanted me to become like a monkey. My mom came up with the name Xiaoyan at once when I was born.

At school, many classmates called me Xiaoyanzi. There is a TV Show in China called “HuanZhuGeGe”. The actress called Xiaoyanzi. The TV show was very popular, and almost everybody saw that show. When I was in high school, there is a classmate with the same name a me. Thus, when teachers called Xiaoyan separately, they always addressed with at last name. The name of Xiaoyan is very common in China. Consequently, when I came to US, I wanted like to change my English to Lyla because I have never seen anyone who is named Lyla, and it is simple and rare.

 

Where is my name come from

            My Chinese name is Xiaofan, and my last name is Yu. My grandfather gave this name to me. Fan means normal in Chinese, and Xiao means a little in Chinese. Therefore Xiaofan together means better than normal and less than perfect. I think he just didn’t want to make me feel stressful, but at the same time he still wanted me to improve myself and be better. Life is so long and people grow up everyday, we have different stages in our lives. Finally people will have the mature attitude to life.

            When I was six, I used to hate this name, because in Chinese the pronunciation sounds like a boy’s name. It just isn’t that typical for a girl. So I always wanted to get rid of it. I remembered when I was in primary school, once the teacher called my name on the class at the first day at school, but nobody answered. I felt ashamed to admit my name and my face turned red. But not anymore. As I have grown up, I felt that I have grown accustomed this name. It is so perfect for me. I can have my own life and I can be myself to make my own decisions. I don’t need to be perfect, but I need to be positive everyday. I have begun to understood that the meaning in a name always more important than the pronunciation. Just like the wise women are always more beautiful than pretty face women. They can be tested by time.

 I love myself and I love the name. I hope I can like the meaning of the name and be brave to face all the challenges in my life. 

my name

August 27, 2015

My Name

       My name is AnQi Zhao. When I moved to the United States, my uncle made the mistake of putting one character of my fist name to the middle name, so in the U.S my name turned to Qi A Zhao.

       My grandfather chose this name for me. I think he picked this name just because it is a pleasant name. For the other reason, every girl in my family like my sisters and cousins all have the some character Qi in our first names. Their names are JiaQi, RuQi, ManQi and ZiQi. Just like us, my father, uncle and my four aunties also have the some character in their first names, but their character is Guo which means nation. Many Chinese people like to name their kids as my grandfather did.

       My name has no meaning in Chinese because it is transliteration of the word angel, so that’s the reason why I chose Angel for my English name even though there are many people have the same name as me.

Fatimah is my name

Name: Fatimah AL Ibrahim

ESL 100

August 31, 2015

Fiction

Fatimah is my name

            In my language, Arabic, my name means happiness. However, it means nothing in English. What a sad feeling when your name has no meaning in other languages except yours. In my country, my name is very common; there are hundreds of Fatimahs in the same school. In fact, when I was in high school, I really hated the moment when I discovered that there are other girls called Fatimah. Feeling cold and nothing was what I felt at that time. Nothing is special. All Fatimahs say “yes” when a teacher says “Fatimah”.

            I used to ask my parents why they chose this name. Their answer was always the same “You should be proud of your name; it is a religious name.” I am proud, but how about that my name is meaningless in other languages. I just want a name that has meaning in other languages, such as English. One meaning in one language is not enough.

            I wonder if I can think of different meanings of my name that could be related to the Arabic meaning. Something likes smile, hope, shining, or beauty. Then I could teach everyone the beauty of my name instead of being disappointed about it and wanting to change it to another name.

            My mom used to say that what makes someone special is the personality, not the name. I think she is right. All the new meanings of my name are kind of similar to my personality, and this is what will make my name alive not empty, and also special not like other Fatimahs.

Best Gift

Huiyin Liang

ESL 100
September 12, 2015

Best Gift

    Every parent hopes their children will grow up to be a good 
person, so they choose a name that has a good meaning, which may 
include their best wishes to their children. However, I don’t think my 
name has any meaning, but it has a very funny story.

    My name was created by my great-grandmother and my grandfather. 
I was the first grandchild in my family, so they were very happy when 
I was born. They had prepared a lot of things before I came to the 
world. My great-grandmother wanted my name to be “Meiyin”, which 
means rich. She was born in a poor family and she needed to work hard 
everyday to earn money to support her family, so she hoped I could be 
a rich woman and not work so hard like her. In addition, my
grandfather wanted my name to be “Huilan”, which means to be a 
good woman. He hoped I would be a good mother and will stay well 
with my own family. I know they all wanted to give their best wishes, 
but it was hard to make a decision. Therefore, my mother decided to 
choose one word from each name. Maybe my name would not have 
any meaning, but it would include my family’s best wishes.
    When I was a primary school student, sometimes my name had 
brought me some troubles. I had complained about my name that it 

was too hard to write in Chinese, and it was hard to pronounce in 

English for the English speakers. However, I still don’t want to 
change it because I think it was the best gift from my family. 

 

The name of mine

     Every time I talk to someone about” What’s my name” I  feel a little bit embarrassed. The reason why was the name of “Yongsi” in China, it’s a naive name. When I was just a little girl, it was so cute, but when I grew up, it was no longer cute again.

            What’s more, a few months ago, I settled down in the United stats. One day, I said to foreigner  “My name is Yongsi Liu and you can just call me “VC”. They all thought it was cute and unusual. Especially, so many Americans think my name of VC is like  vitamin C, so they think I’m a healthy person

            How about me to think about my name? I absolutely love my name because it was designed by my grandfather. After I born in my family, my grandfather started to find something Chinese words which were wonderful and suitable for me. Therefor I love it and think I will never change it,because the meaning of the name is hoping me to be more brave, nice and thankful. In addition I attempted to be on my life’s path and growing up. I know some people may change their name so many times, but as for me, I have not.,because I believe my name is something which symbolizes who I am. So I will never change it in my whole life.

My Unique Name

Montserrat Cosio

ESL 100

August 26, 2015

My Unique Name

My name is special, strong, and different. My name is the number ten. I did not inherit anybody’s name. My name is like a thunderstorm; it is tough to pronounce. The origin of my name is Catalan. My mother told me the story of how I got my name. She told me when she was a little girl, she always liked the name Andrea, because that is my grandmother’s name. However, my mother’s sister named her first daughter Andrea and my mother didn’t want me to have the same name as my cousin. She also liked the name Montserrat when she was little, so she decided to name me Montserrat even before I was born. On the other hand, my father wanted me to be named Alejandra because in my father’s family, the name Alejandro(a) is very common. I don’t know how my mother convinced my father to name me Montserrat, but I am glad that my mother chose that name because I like it. I think it is different. Every time I hear my name in Spanish, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Wow my name sounds strong”. For English speakers, however, it’s hard to pronounce and people always mispronounce it. English speakers pronounce it as: “MON -TSTER, MON-TER, MONSI” and sometimes they don’t try and tell me that my name is really hard. In English, my name means “ a Latin baby name”. In Spanish, my name means chosen and loved by God, and this makes me feel unique and loved. I was baptized with the name of Montserrat. My name is Montserrat, and it is very special to me. I thank my mother for giving me this name.       

 Who am I

There was an extraordinary warm spring in 1988. A baby was born under the family expectations who was the only girl of the family. Her family named her Miao. The baby was me. My full name is Miao Liu. The pronunciation of Miao sounds like a cat. It’s a common name in China, but it is a unique name for me and I really like it. Nevertheless, I am shy to say my name. I never realized the reason until now.

In Chinese my name means vast. My parents wanted me to be a broad-minded person. In general, the people can achieve the great things who are broad-minded. Likewise, they wanted me to have a good future. Before I was born, they took a week to look up the dictionary for my name. As a Chinese word, my first name was composed of three Chinese character “water” which put the three “water” together and looked like a mountain. Meanwhile, they expected me to have a clear conscience as pure as water, because life will be a sweet and joyful thing for one who has a pure conscience.

My family has placed high hopes on me and has given all the best to me including the name. I was so lucky that I had such a good name which had positive energy. I love my name and enjoy the love from my family.

Famous Name

        In English, my name means graceful. In Chinese, it means soft and joyful. It is not easy to write in Chinese because my name in Chinese characters has many strokes. I have two characters in my first name, but two characters are the same. My Chinese first name has twelve strokes for one word, and the total of my first name is twenty four strokes. Also, my last name means plum blossom in Chinese; however, it means a beautiful flower and very popular in my country. I heard some people had been in Chicago for more than 40 years said at that time they knew many people have last name, Mei. Furthermore, I like the name that my father gave me because in every language that my name has same pronunciation, but the only thing that writing is different. It is easy to remember and say to people who don’t know Chinese. In China, my name is very popular, and many famous people have this name, Tingting. My mother told me that around my village there are two or three people that have the same first name like me. In addition, my father has a friend that his daughter has same first name and last name as me, but both of us were not born at the same time. My father gave this name to me because he wanted me to be beautiful and help people who are around me. This also means that helping people will be better than staying at home. I think people’s name are very important because it may affect their life in the future.

 Plum blossom- Mei      Tingting in Chinese

                                                             Wonder

           My name is Miaoming. It means wonder, magic and hope in Chinese, but it means nothing in English. Even though my name is full of many good meanings, I did not like it at all when I was young because the pronunciation of my name sounds like the voice of a cat. In addition, in my childhood, some of my classmates sometimes made fun of my name. At the time, I was unhappy every day and did not like to play with my classmates.
        One day, I asked my mother why gave this name to me and whether I could I had a chance to change my name. My mother smiled at once and said, “You should not care too much about what people think about your name. You name was the wonderful name in the world as if it is pretty note in music.” She explained more, “Miao means excellent and marvelous. Ming means clear and wise. I gave this name because I wanted you have a wonderful and colorful life whatever how your life hard, you can able to overcome setbacks in your life. If you can comprehend the meanings behind your name, you will like it the future.” Therefore, after she said that, I did not say anything and just walked away.
         Many years later, as I grew up, I realized that I was very satisfied about my name. I understand the pronunciation of my name is not very important because it cannot define who I really am. The importance is how much I understand the meaning of my name. Thus, I like my name very much because it has made me think a lot about my name and notice how my parent intelligent for giving this name to me.     

    

Weihao Zhong- Successful Life

                                                                 Successful Life

         Every name has its own meaning. I thought about my name in elementary school. In Chinese class, I read an article about the origin of names and wrote an essay about my name. Even though I didn't know my name's meaning at that time, I was able to guess the meaning. After school, I asked my father about my name, and he told me that everyone's name is a symbol of himself. My name was my great-grandfather's name, and he was a successful businessman that earned a lot of money. Thus my father sincerely hopes that I can become a successful businessman and have a great career like my great-grandfather.

         However, I recognize that my name not only means confidence and bravery but also to have a successful life in the future because I was born during a Chinese traditional festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is my favorite festival, and there is a famous mythical story. The story is about a hero name HouYi who saves the world by killing many monsters. In the end, the world is peaceful, and people lead normal lives again. At the same time, I like my name because it sounds good in Chinese pronunciation and has a good meaning. That is why I do not want to change my name in the future when I become a citizen of the United States. Sometimes, my classmates don't know how to spell my name, but I will try my best to teach them.