Wednesday, September 9, 2009

My Name

My name, like most chinese names has three characters (李毅凱). The first character is my family name which is Lee (李). It is made up of two other chinese characters, that is, wood(木) on son(子). It doesn't really have a meaning. But this surname was a royal surname from the Tang Dynasty. The middle character which is Yi, meaning perseverence in everything I do. The third character is Khai(凱), which means victory. This word is taken from a chinese noun: kai xuan(凱旋). Kai xuan are songs which was sung after a victorious war. In chinese names, besides the surname, the next most important name is the third name. My second name Khai was actually taken from my grandfather's second name. This is to create a relationship between us. My grandmother and parents also put in a lot of effort to give me this name. Why do I say that? This is because they have to calculate every strokes and make sure it matches my birth date. The chinese believe that this name would bring me luck for the rest of my life. So far, my name seems to be working as I'm feeling really happy and lucky.

1 comment:

Claire said...

Great - really fascinating to see the heritage behind your name. I thought that this writing could have had more voice? It is obviously something that you are very proud of, yet it reads without much emotion. There are flashes, but I wanted to hear that pride. Also, go back in and give Chinese a capital C! Image?