Generations of one family pour over hefty ancient tomes and dictionaries but fail to find suitable names for soon-to-be-born boy and girl twins. Practice of selecting baby names is serious business in Chinese culture, especially for older members of family. — SCMP
The heartwarming story of a mother-to-be mobilising her whole family to come up with names for her soon-to-be-born twins has delighted mainland social media.
Star Video reported that the unidentified mother-to-be from Shandong province in eastern China went viral after sharing a video about four members of her family spending three nights pouring over ancient Chinese texts and dictionaries to find names for the twins – a boy and a girl – she is expecting.
In the video, the expectant mother clocks the time on a smartphone to be 10.35pm on a Tuesday as four members of her family are sat around a table with their heads buried in books.
The mother-to-be said that by the Thursday of the same week, a three-night period of family study had not yielded a result.
It is unclear which family members were involved in the name-finding marathon, but the video shows a young woman and man, as well as an elderly couple.
The young woman was reading Three Hundred Tang Poems, a compilation of popular poems from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the elderly woman next to her was holding another classic, 300 Song Lyrics.
The heftiest masterpiece was in the hands of the elderly man. Known as Cihai, it is a huge Chinese language dictionary and encyclopaedia.
The mother-to-be said that the surname of her unborn twins would be Liu. However, because Liu is one of the most common surnames in China, the difficulty in finding special names for the twins was increased.
She said that none of the family had studied hard when they were younger, and this made her appreciate their hard work and dedication even more.
“The focus and attentiveness they have shown could overload a central processing unit,” she joked.
The story delighted mainland social media.
One online observer said: “Oh god, the thickness of Cihai scares me.” While another person suggested: “How about finding a fortune teller?”
In Chinese culture, a name is not just a symbol, it represents parents who place hope and wishes on the next generations.
Parents or other senior family members believe that good names will bring good luck and fortune to their children.
Also, as respect for seniority plays a big part in Chinese culture, older members of the family take priority when it comes to choosing names.
According to China Highlights, the most common surnames in 2022 were Li, Wang, Zhang and Liu, with the numbers of people bearing them, in millions, being 95.3, 88.9, 84.8, 64.6, respectively.
The most popular given names for girls were Ai, which means love, Fang, fragrance, Jing, quiet, and Li, pretty. For boys, the names were Qiang, strength, Guo, country, An, security, and Gang, strong. – South China Morning Post
