David & Jennilyn

My dad had picked out a Chinese name for our child, but it was for a boy (since many people thought we were going to have a boy). It was tradition that the grandfather of the newborn picked out a name for the child, and we wanted to carry forward the tradition. My dad was very excited to have such a honor. We were equally excited to have a part of Chinese culture in her name.

He had a female name roaming in his head, in case we had a girl, but he and my mom weren’t content with it. Jenni and I actually liked it, but my mom felt it was too common. After we had a daughter, My dad stayed up most of the night to come up with a new name.

I received an e-mail in the morning after Kadence was born with a picture of her Chinese name.

My dad came to the hospital as we were being discharged to help bring stuff to our apartment. It was the first time he was able to hold Kadence, and he explained the meaning of her Chinese name while admiring her.

For those phonetically inclined, here’s how to say her name:

• Cantonese: Lum Hey Yune (think “June” and using a “Y” instead of a “J”)
• Mandarin: Leen See Yuan (think “ywen,” which is similar to “when”)

FYI: The Mandarin version is much easier to say.

In the paperwork, I wrote in “Xi-Yuan” for Kadence’s middle name, making it “Kadence Xi-Yuan Lim” in its entirety. The reason I hyphenated the two Chinese names into her middle name was because I wanted Kadence to have her full Chinese name in her English name.

For me, my records show that my middle name is “Kai,” which is fine. When I attended Chinese school, all of my classmates had three character names whereas I seemed to only have two. I didn’t mind, since it meant I had one less character to write (hence one less character to memorize).

As I grew older, I asked my parents about it and I did have a third character for my name. They didn’t bother using it because it was easier to just to have two. The third character was inconsequential and just a name that is carried from tradition.

I thought it was a shame that I didn’t know the third character to my name until much later, so I’m hoping that Kadence will appreciate her multi-cultural heritage with her middle name.

Kadence has already fulfilled the meaning of her Chinese name: beautiful. She is a joy to be with and I’m hoping the Lord will be alive in her to bring both Jenni and my families closer together.