The Origins Of Your Name

You are 2 days old today. You have been doing great so far! Mommy and Daddy are hoping that we are catching the correct signals sent out by you. The occasional readjustment of your swaddle can cause you to be edgier than usual. Our guess is that like Mommy, you are scared of the cold.

Daddy went to do up your birth certificate today as well. So might as well let you understand what your name Gabriel Ho Chen Xi (何晨熙) means.

Gabriel in Christian terms means “strength of God” or Daddy’s favorite: “hero of God”. Alongside Michael, Gabriel is one of the 2 angels whom are better known in the scriptures. Mommy initially wanted to name you Dwayne, but decided to drop the idea after realizing Dwayne meant the “dark one”. Daddy felt it was really cool but negative means negative from Mommy. And so, Gabriel was decided by Mommy and that was it.

Now deciding on your Christian name wasn’t too difficult. Daddy had the challenge to come up with Chinese names that not only have to sound nice but also have a meaning to it.

The initial proposal was 何以则. Sounds pretty good, seemingly easy to write and most importantly it has a nice meaning to it: 以身作则. We would like you to be a good living example to people around you. However Mommy had concerns about the 2 “knives” in the “则”  so decided to drop the idea.

Mommy personally liked words pronounced “Xi1” so Daddy had to churn around the web to look for good combinations for your name. It wasn’t that difficult to find the “Xi” words. Some shortlisted characters are: 熙, 希, 曦. Daddy personally liked熙 the most. Being a keen historian, the Qing Dynasty Emperor 康熙 was the longest ruling monarch in Chinese history. His reign was well-known for a prosperous era of peace and vitality.  The meaning of熙 as a word by itself meant “兴起rise” and “兴盛flourish”. Daddy felt that it is a very positive and energized word and both of us loved it. The challenge was coming up with the second character. The combinations are infinite but Daddy narrowed down to 2: 晨 and政.

晨 simply meant sunrise and 政 meant politics. Daddy felt that both these words compliment the chosen 熙. With the Emperor Kangxi as an example, 政熙 sounds nice and proper together. A combination of a rise and flourishing political environment sounds decent. On the other hand,  晨熙 pointed to a flourishing sunrise: another scenic and positive name.

Mommy and Daddy initially decided that these were suitable and wanted you to opt for your own name. If you were born in the first half of the day, you shall be named晨熙, and if you decide to arrive in the later half of the day, 政熙 shall be your name.

Intriguingly along the way, we found out that one of Daddy’s cousins’ kids have the same 政 in their names. So there goes政熙 for you because Daddy wasn’t a great fan of that particular cousin. Let’s keep it a secret shall we?

And so you are finally and officially named Ho Chen Xi Gabriel (何晨熙). We know it’s not the easiest of words to write for a name but we hope that you will one day know the meaning behind your name. We pray that you will be the angel, not only of God, but also the bright and flourishing man that will give people light and hope. Daddy believes that light equates to hope and that this positive name of yours will let you be that shining light which people will look up upon for guidance and leadership, probably just like God wants you to be.