What's in a name?

The four girls in our family were named: Fun (Fen), Fung (Fang, that's me), Mee (Mei), Moi(Lee Kwoi's twin who died as an infant) and Kwoi (Gui). Put our names together, it sounds like: fragrant and beautiful roses! How ingenious of Pa!

When my girls were borned, Pa chose their names for me. As I do not write Chinese, he would write the name on a piece of paper for me to take with me when I register the births of my girls.

Registering Yi Wen (a.k.a Pleasant Scholar--it was my wish for her to be an academic genius...) was not a problem. I had tucked the piece of paper safely in my bag and produced it when prompted to enter her chosen name in the birth certificate.

Naming Yi-Wei was another matter. In my hurry, I left the piece of paper at home. I dared not ask my husband to turn back as I did not wish to be rebuked. It would not make a difference anyway--he would never take the trouble.

So it was with much apprehension that I approached the registrar's counter.

"What is the child's given name?" a middle-aged lady asked in a standoffish manner.

" Yi-Wei, but I can't write it," I said timidly.

"Can't write?" she glared at me-- almost with contempt.

"Here, choose one!" said Cold Fish, tossing me a Chinese dictionary.

"Come back when you're ready with the name," she seemed to censure.

"Next!" she continued.

I almost dropped dead on the spot. "Yi" was easy--I just had to tell her that it's the same character as the Yi in "Yi Bao" (Ipoh, that is). "Wei" was a nightmare! I went through four pages of entries: Wei as in "hello"; "surrounded","curtain"...

I was sweating though the room was chilly; not forgetting it was just a week after I had given birth and I had not fully recovered from the trauma of childbirth.

I regretted for not learning Chinese when I was young. In my despair, I chose an entry that appeared to be non-offensive and not silly in its description. I still can't write it today but thank God, I was told it's a nice name for a girl.

When my son was borned, pa had already passed away. I turned to my husband's brother-in-law, George, to help us choose a name. He was named Kean Wah (Jian Hua). Jian as in "strong" and Wah was the given name following the family tree.

And this time, I made 100% sure I brought the precious little piece of paper with me to the registrar of births!