Natalie's given Chinese name, which we will keep as her middle name, is Wan Han. Although our adoption agency gave us a translation of it, I was having a hard time putting the meaning into words until I did some research on the characters myself.
Wan, the first character, literally means 10,000, but the figurative meaning is infinity. It is considered to be a very auspicious and lucky number. The Forbidden City is said to have 9999 1/2 rooms - one half room less than the 10,000 rooms that are in heaven according to ancient Chinese culture.
Han, the second character, means contain. When I first heard this I thought it was a very strange meaning for a name. Now I understand that the two characters are meant to always be interpreted as a set.
When Natalie arrived at the orphanage she was given a name which says she contains an infinite amount of luck and good fortune...a beautiful name for a very special little girl.
4 comments:
Lucky. Elspeth's name translated as smells like metal. We decided to just keep the last part and double it (young children in China are often called by a nickname which is actually their first name said twice). Now her chinese name is doubly fragrent. A little more mainstream.
GORGEOUS name for a gorgeous girl!
From another Wan baby PAP,
nancy
Her name is so pretty, just as she is. Can't wait to follow your journey to China. Blessings, Debbie
What a sweet name. :-D ...We, too, are thinking of keeping our little girl's Chinese name as a middle name. We have not decided completely on her name yet. Looks like you are having a great time as you prepare for her arrival. The nursery looks beautiful (I spied the doggies on the shelf, love them!), and the care pack you sent is so nice. We get to send the photo album and then one small item, probably in December. I will be popping in to see how things are going here and there. God bless you!
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