In Western naming tradition, children could be named after an ancestor, a historical role model, an idol in popular culture, or even a month of the year. Chinese naming traditions follow many rules. One particular difference is that while children could be named after a season, they could not be named after a month.
I had a Residential Advisor (RA) at my university dorm named April. When I translated her name to my parents then, they were tickled that her name was for the fourth month of the year. From Chinese/Japanese/Korean language tradition, the months of the year are numerical. Chinese culture has nothing against numerals in naming children. Afterall, children are commonly named after his/her birth order, as in Number One Son, or Number One Pillar/Column (of a house), Number Two Daughter, and so on to Number Fourteen Daughter.
It turns out that April comes from the Latin verb aperire as in “to open”. In Spanish, there’s abrir for to open. What a significant way to represent this month especially in 2021 when we are looking forward to reopenings everywhere!
After learning the beautiful meaning behind April, I find that Western tradition is equally sophisticated and awe inspiring as Chinese/Eastern culture.
Image downloaded from pinterest.ca
