Jan-chan’s Tidbits

<Ok I’ve got some pics and stuff I’d like to post but I need some time to download them as well as write about them which I did not have time to do this weekend. So for now you get this filler post!>

Romeo & Juliet - Act 2, Scene 2:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other word would smell as sweet. - Juliet

The Chinese character on the banner is a character in my Chinese name. When I was little my mom had told me that since each Chinese character contains a meaning of its own, every Chinese name, commonly containing two to three characters, has a special meaning associate to it.

Lets find out if my parents picked the right name for me. I couldn’t find my dictionary so I’ve used the MDBG Chinese-English dictionary online for the Chinese definitions. The first character is 靜 [Jing] - calm, quiet, motionless, still. The second character is 妍 [Yan] - beautiful, handsome, seductive. So, lets see what we get if we put the two characters together and try to translate it to English: 靜妍 [Jing Yan] - Static is beautiful.

I almost died laughing at the translation. Ok, now that we have the definitions, I’m sure those who knows me will agree that this name doesn’t quite fit my personality. I’m not exactly a quiet person. Although people at my work place always say that I’m a mute since I don’t talk very much but that is because a) its work and I want to finish everything so I can get off work on time and b) it takes a bit of time for me to get to know someone before I start talking my mouth off to them. And lets not even discuss about the second character [lol]. I do however believe that I’m a beautiful person…inside.

Alright now for my English name. Janice is derived from the name Jane with the -ice suffix. There are many variations such as Janis, Janise, Janess, Janyce…etc. The meaning of Jan[e] is God is gracious. The name first appeared in the novel “Janice Meredith” (1899) by Paul Leicester Ford. These information is taking from Think Baby Names and babynames.com.

So there we have it, the meanings of my names. I don’t exactly understand the meaning of Janice but that’s ok. Since names are given to us when we’re babies, I don’t think that many people would actually grow into what their name means - especially the Chinese names. Wouldn’t it be scary if everyone has the personality or trait that fits perfectly with the meaning of their name? Then naming would be like a form of fortune telling and that people with similar name/meaning would be like twins.

PS: So, what does your name mean?

To Brian: I missed our food games. I bet we’d be talking about food all the time if we’re chatting. You should get MSN so we can do that sometimes!

To Kaya: I <3 you! Hope you’re doing well. Is it getting cold in HK?

To Wilson: Al & Ken want you to come visit and you should! I’ll cook for you and even made you my famous brownies!

To Snowy: I hope you’re doing well! It’s so hard to catch you online so I’m glad we can communicate offline through here.