"After reading your article, it reassured my conviction that I really have no sympathy for people who get scammed in the international adoption process ("The Adoption Scam," 5/23/07). First of all, international adoptions are nothing more than legalized human trafficking and black-market baby exchanges. Second, there are more than 1,000 children in Minnesota's foster care system alone, with at least 600 of those children waiting to be adopted (for free through the county or through Minnesota Children's Home Society), most over the age of six years old, so there is little reason to have to leave the state or country to adopt a child—unless, of course, your purpose is to adopt a white baby or you feel the need to ride the trend and adopt from eastern Asian countries so you can wear your child like an accessory. . .
--Craig Kohner
The City Pages
Minneapolis/St. Paul"
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Choosing a Name
I think I have an idea of our daughter's Chinese name (though nothing definitive on her English name). See Choosing a Name post of April 22 for more information on this topic.
I think her Chinese name should be Wén Míng. Wén means "coloring on the clouds" or "colored clouds." Míng means "[1] bright; light; brilliant [2] day; daybreak; dawn; [3] intelligent; clever." So put together, it approximates a meaning of light or color on the clouds at sunrise. (Or intelligent/brilliant). She could use the English translation "Dawn" if she wanted. Dawn is a good name, isn't it?! :)
Having read that "it is very easy to make a bad Chinese name," I polled my resources. I sent the characters and my attempts at combining them and translating them to my friend Jen, who has been teaching English in China, asking her to ask her Chinese friends if this would be an OK name. I got an e-mail from a kind Chinese woman saying that the name is OK and that I am correct about the meanings. She wanted me to be aware that there is a homophone* for Wén Míng that means "cultivated." Also to keep it written in two parts (not Wenming or Wen-ming).
Then again, Michael could veto the whole idea. We'll see.
*homophone: the words are pronounced the same but written differently and have different meanings. In English -- bare vs. bear. In Chinese, same pronunciation, different characters.
I think her Chinese name should be Wén Míng. Wén means "coloring on the clouds" or "colored clouds." Míng means "[1] bright; light; brilliant [2] day; daybreak; dawn; [3] intelligent; clever." So put together, it approximates a meaning of light or color on the clouds at sunrise. (Or intelligent/brilliant). She could use the English translation "Dawn" if she wanted. Dawn is a good name, isn't it?! :)
Having read that "it is very easy to make a bad Chinese name," I polled my resources. I sent the characters and my attempts at combining them and translating them to my friend Jen, who has been teaching English in China, asking her to ask her Chinese friends if this would be an OK name. I got an e-mail from a kind Chinese woman saying that the name is OK and that I am correct about the meanings. She wanted me to be aware that there is a homophone* for Wén Míng that means "cultivated." Also to keep it written in two parts (not Wenming or Wen-ming).
Then again, Michael could veto the whole idea. We'll see.
*homophone: the words are pronounced the same but written differently and have different meanings. In English -- bare vs. bear. In Chinese, same pronunciation, different characters.
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