Does anyone here know anything about Chinese names?

My husband and I are in the process of adopting a baby from China. We would like to give her a Chinese name in addition to her American name, but we would like for it to be a name that we have selected. We have a name in mind, but we would like to know possible meanings and if it can stand alone. I know that the meaning varies according to the character used to write the name. I also know that some Chinese names take two parts to have any genuine meaning.

I seemed to remember that there were some people here who might be able to help. If you could, I would really appreciate it!

If you would post the characters I could help you. :)

Thanks, Jenfer, but that's my problem. I can only find the pinyin spelling because I know very little about the Chinese language. The name in English is "Lian." The only translation that I have been able to find is "graceful willow." I can find the websites that give you Chinese characters for English names, but I don't think that's what I need. If you could give me any help at all, it would be greatly appreciated.:)

Tell me exactly what do you need, then I will see what I can do. :)

I'm also willing to help, but I do not know as much as Jenfer.

Could you direct us to the website or resource which told you "lian" means graceful willow? Perhaps Jenfer or I could glean more information from the context. :)

In the morning I will ask my Chinese students ( at the university in Guangdong) to tell me the meaning of Li An in English and also to to show me the characters for graceful willow and how to pronounce it properly. I hope that will help!

Where from and when are getting your chosen angel? If I can help at all please do let me know.

Lilith, thank you so much. I have a couple of other people (Jenfer and Cataholic) who are doing some research for me, but information directly from China would be great!

Currently, we are almost at the DTC stage of the adoption process. That means our dossier (paperwork) will be sent to China for translation, then to the CCAA. After that, we still have a 5-7 month wait for our referral. All this to say, right now we have no way of knowing what province she is in. When we come to China, we know we will fly into Beijing and that we will spend some time in Guangzhou, but we don't know yet where else we will go.

Thanks, everyone!

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Originally posted by Kater
Could you direct us to the website or resource which told you "lian" means graceful willow? Perhaps Jenfer or I could glean more information from the context. :)[/font] [/B]

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It was on a list of Chinese names and their translations. I have found exactly the same meaning on several lists, but I do not have them bookmarked. I don't have time right this minute to do a search, but there really wasn't a "context."

I have managed to narrow down the given meaning of LIAN to one character.

Here is the simplified version of the character:
Lian (2nd tone)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...n/a27831f9.gif

Perhaps with this information Jenfer or others can better tell you how suitable this character would be for a name. I think it would be better if you could combine it with a second character.

I hope this helps! :)

yup, that's the word i was thinking too. lotus flower. the character itself can stand alone. and i don't think it has any other meaning except lotus flower. i don't know exactly what "willow" is so i can't help much.

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Originally posted by jenfer
yup, that's the word i was thinking too. lotus flower. the character itself can stand alone. and i don't think it has any other meaning except lotus flower. i don't know exactly what "willow" is so i can't help much.

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I'm not sure why so many baby name websites translate it to mean graceful willow. :confused:

Jenfer, a willow is a type of tree...in Chinese it is yang2 liu3 (杨柳).

If you combined lian2 with hua1 (莲花), then I think that would make a beautiful name. It means lotus flower as well, but sounds more like a name as it is two syllables. :)

oh ok. then willow is definitely different than lotus. lol. but i don't necessarily want to name my baby "willow"... at least the definition kater is giving here (it's not that common). ;) however the word "lotus"... i have seen it in quite many chinese female names. that's something you can think about.
i think people put "graceful willow" just to make it sounds nice.
if i break up my 2 characters in my chinese names... it means "victory" "poem" ;)(hee... i am not giving out my chinese name though)

This is a good idea. One woman who adopted from China had her daughter named stink weed in Chinese. She was found among those kind of plants and taken to the orphanage. The adopting woman knew what it meant and she promptly changed her name.:eek: The baby also has an American name too, of course.

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Originally posted by janelle
This is a good idea. One woman who adopted from China had her daughter named stink weed in Chinese. She was found among those kind of plants and taken to the orphanage. The adopting woman knew what it meant and she promptly changed her name.:eek: The baby also has an American name too, of course.

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Our daughter will have a name that has been given to her at the orphanage. Some of those names have some thought and care behind them. Others translate as "stink weed" or other such things. I also want to be careful, though, that when we select her name that we don't accidentally make a mistake in the translation. We do want her to have a name that comes from her heritage, but we also want it to come from us as her parents.

I hope that makes sense. I'm getting sleepy.:)

Hi
I don't know anything about Chinese names, but I wanted to say good luck with the adoption :)

Hi there again, I got all my female students to write down their names in Chinese and pinyin along with english meanings.
do you think you could PM me your mailing address so I can send it to you? If you come to Guangzhou perhaps we could meet and I might get to see your beautiful baby? By the way, baby clothes and equipment is much less expensive here if you can bear to wait to do some shopping! Lots of good thoughts and prayers.