What's in a Name?

I started this post about 3 months ago and I think today is the perfect day to actually complete it. Tary and I just got back from a full-day child-birthing class. It started at 8:30 AM this morning and it taught us what to expect during the whole child-birthing process. Baby Trinh will be here soon! 5 weeks, 3 days if Baby listens to what my iPhone app is telling me. We still don't have a name finalized for Baby yet. We better get crack-a-lacking!

There a gazillion names to choose from. But how do we narrow down the choices? Well, there are a few things we must keep in mind. Pick a bad name (e.g., rhymes with male anatomy, sounds like an old person's name, has a weird spelling, initials form a bad word, is a fruit, etc) and kids will tease him while he's growing up (until our height genes can kick in). One thing that stinks is a "foreign" or "ethnic" name might limit his opportunities as an adult. We are living in America after all.

Let's start with what we do have. Baby's last name will be "Trinh". That part's a given. Tary and I are traditionalists and Tary took my last name when we got married. I'm actually very proud of that fact. The practice isn't as common as it used to be where you would just assume the wife took her husband's name. It's definitely not common in Asian cultures. It's just a name. Why is it such a big deal? By taking my name, she gave up something of her own. In a me-first society, Tary did the opposite of what the world would have her do. Instead, she wanted us to be united with one mind, one body, one soul, one family, with one name.

So we have a last name. It's a Vietnamese name. But Baby isn't just Vietnamese. He's also Cambodian. Beyond all that, he's also American. His name should represents us, our multiple cultures, and how we plan on raising him.

My given name at birth was Phúc Thanh Do. Say it phonetically in English and you can imagine the kind of childhood I had. Thankfully, someone recommended that I be given an Americanized first name, Paul. Now that sounds more like it. My brother Nguyễn was given the name James.

Paul and James. Two awesome names from the Bible. I can't believe I never realized this until much later in life. My closest cousin is Joseph. My other cousins' names: Steven, Andrew, David, and Daniel. They are all great names found in the Bible. When we started thinking about first names for Baby, we definitely wanted a Biblical name.

The core of our family's values are clearly defined by the truth of God's Word. I am thankful that most of my immediate family are Christians. I think it's starting to be a family tradition to give our boys biblical names. Maybe we will be the first to make it official. Whichever biblical name we choose for Baby, just like how we're putting God first in his name, we're hoping he grows up to put God first in his life.

That's why we really love the name Daniel. The name Daniel means "God is my judge". The prophet Daniel was best known for his fidelity to God. Despite facing persecution for his faith, he remained in God's service. We want to raise Baby to be a light in this world. We want him to be able to stand up and still do what's right. We want him to love and respect others and more importantly, to love and fear God.

So that leaves us with the middle name. There are a bunch of Cambodian names to consider. We want a name that has a good meaning. We also want the name to be relatively easy to pronounce so it's easy for both of our parents to say. I also don't want a name that has "harsh" sounds in it. Names (and words in the English language) with the letter "k" often have a very hard "cuh" sound that I'm not real fond of.

Here are some names that I like. Heng means lucky. I like the way it sounds. It also resembles my father's name, Hung. My father-in-law really likes it too. Another name I have been considering is Arun which means sun. I guess it's pronounced similarly to Aaron. Another name I kind of like is Odom (or Oudom). It is pronounced like Adam and it means supreme, magnificent, or excellent. I also like Dara which means stars.

Ahhh...I can't decide. So many names to choose from. I guess sometimes when you are indecisive, people say to trust your first instinct. Hmm...Daniel Heng Trinh. It does have a nice ring to it. What do you guys think? /discuss.