My baby's name

I’ve been asked the meaning of my new baby’s name. Comments also include :

- so long

- pretty name

- so sweet

- sounds complicated

We actually had this name picked out in case our first baby had been a girl. Since we couldn’t agree on anything else, we stuck with this. I did want the name Isabel. But Edwin said it sounds too European and Joseph started teasing his yet-to-be-born sister by singing “Jingle Bells….Jingle Bells” every time I asked if he would like that to be mei mei’s name.

So Joy-Anne she is. What does it mean? Well, Joy means just that – joy! Lots of happiness. Anne is the modern version of Anna which means God is gracious.

Her Chinese name Soong Hwei is from the phrase ker song and ern hui which together mean song of praise. We modified the spelling because ‘sung’ might be pronounced as the past tense of sing. You know….sung, lung, hung, dung. If spelt ‘song’, it might be pronounced as rhyming with long, gong, tong. So we have spelt it as “Soong”.

As for the “Hwei”, it’s to go with Joseph’s “Wei”. Kinda like the feminine version. And I think it sounds more accurate than “Hui” or “Hooi”.

Put together, it certainly looks long if you count the number of letters. But it has the same number of syllable as Joseph’s name. In fact, my own name has more syllables.

I didn’t want a single syllable Christian name because I just didn’t think it would sound nice. You know….Joy Tan....Rotan…Hutan.

Of course we could have picked Babihu Tan or Rambu Tan or Pakis Tan but I don’t think our kid would like it very much when he/she grows up.

Looking back, her name couldn’t be more appropriate even though it was chosen about 3 years before her birth. Her conception brought much joy to us, having been conceived soon after my miscarriage. She’s a gift from our gracious God – we did not try for her. We praise God for answering all our prayers – a healthy baby and a natural delivery. Indeed, God is good all the time!