Chinese Culture >> Chinese Baby Names
Chinese Baby Names
It is not uncommon for a Chinese couple to seek the services
of an astrologer to find a suitable Chinese baby name for their new born child.
It is believe that a suitable Chinese baby name can improve the luck of the
child and give the child a more auspicious life path.
The methodologies for selecting a suitable Chinese baby vary between the
different schools of thoughts but most of them are based on the principles of
Yin and Yang as well as the Five Elements.
Chinese characters are made up of strokes. The odd number strokes are Yang while
the even number strokes are Yin. For example a character composed on two strokes
is Yin while another character composed on 3 or 5 stokes are Yang. The total
number of strokes used in the name matters. Depending on the school, a certain
range of strokes are auspicious while certain other ranges are not.
In most schools the date of time of the baby's birth is also required to compute
the Ba Zi or Eight Characters. From the eight characters, the astrologer can
determine the useful element. This is usually but not necessary the element is
that most lacking in the chart.
Let say that the element that is most lacking in the chart is water. In this
case the astrologer will find a name that is associated with water. Obvious
names would include water or ocean. Less obvious is winter which is also
associated with water. For someone lacking in the wood element, suitable names
include wood, forest, spring (a season of wood) or a name of a plant.
Another technique is to find a Chinese baby name that comes with the required
element. Most Chinese characters are composed of basic characters. For example
the character for the word 'stove' a made up of the character fire and earth.
Therefore if you lack fire or earth you can call yourself stove! Not the best of
example but I hope you understand the principle!
These are by no means the only methods. Let me give you an example. In the old
days, where infant mortality rate is quite high, parent resort to giving their
child very lowly names like Cow or Pig hoping the evil spirits will miss them
hence allowing them to live to a ripe old age!
Now you now why someone not so good looking is called 'Spring Beauty' while an
obvious beauty is called a 'Pig'!
About the Author:
Henry Fong Feng Shui | Chinese Astrology | Naming