Names : Braedyn & Shayanne

Tagged by Jessie, Immomsdaughter & Wokkingmum .

A very popular tag. I don’t remember much about their names, origins, etc…so I’ll write what I remember then return with more after checking the book I looked at (which is still residing at MPH Bookstores because I was too broke to buy it and daddykhong was too chicken to steal it!)

Braedyn Jian-Wen

A version of Brayden (which apparently Zoe Tay of Singaporean TV fame picked for her son too). Before everyone jumps and says that I copied her – I didn’t. Braedyn’s name was long confirmed before I found out about Zoe’s choice. If you don’t believe me, ask daddykhong.

(Daddykhong says, “Errrr, whatever you say dear. You are ALWAYS right!”)

We wanted something different from what the name book recommended so picked one of the many variations of Brayden . It is supposed to mean “wood” or “creek”. Alamak….forgotten liao!

As for his Chinese name, banana mummykhong left all the hard work to banana daddykhong. Daddykhong, being strictly English-educated and all related Brit-snob crap like learning his math in pounds and pence, did manage to learn enough from his 8-odd years of Mandarin tuition to know how to use a Chinese dictionary, the intonations of each word, etc. He would search for the name based on its Mandarin pronounciation and I will get him the Cantonese pronounciation. The name must sound ok in both dialects (and look good when written in English) before we confirmed.

We even bought 2 Chinese name books to learn more about the various elements, the binomials, etc.. Had to choose a name that satisfied ALL Chinese naming methods (think there are 4 or 5).

Anyway, Jian is “strong” and Wen is “Literary” so Braedyn should be as strong as Superman and as smart as Einstein. Judging from his progress so far……probably would say he’s got a wee bit of both!

Shayanne Xue-Yan

A variation of the American name Cheyenne . Totally forgotten what it means.

(Daddykhong says, “My next car would be a Porsche Cayenne. Thank you very much.”)

Chinese name selection was must easier. It was all done in 1 night as opposed to kor-kor’s many weeks. We originally wanted to rigidly stick to the Chinese naming methodology like what we did for kor-kor but after a couple of attempts + the wood element not matching with the metal element and what not, we decided to give her a Chinese name similar to her English name.

Xue means snow and Yan means swallow. Daddykhong’s mum has xue in her name and I have yan in mine. All coincidence. So from the name, Shayanne should be a cold-hearted person and will fly very far away once she’s old enough!!!! Or maybe she will be as pretty and fair as a snow swallow?