Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Meaning of Her Names

Liana's Chinese name, given to her by the orphanage, is Nan Yun Shun.
Nan = a Chinese family name that means south (she's in a southern province of China, called Guandong).
Yun = To allow or consent
Shun = In sequence; put in order; suitable

We have seen Yun and Shun as separate names and together as YunShun.

All the babies in our travel group (and presumably in her orphanage) are named Nan Yun something. So Shun is unique to our baby. Since she is the fourth child in our family, I think that "in sequence" makes sense. And she's certainly "suitable"!

We chose Liana (pronounced lee-AH-na) for many reasons. In Chinese, Li is a name that means pretty and An means peace. I really got attached to An and it's meaning - I've been telling God that we are due a PEACEFUL baby. The boys were not easy babies!

Here was the clincher though. Liana is actually Hebrew and means "my God has answered." We felt this was not only so meaningful for an orphan, but for our adoption experience also. God prompted us to adopt. He said go, and we went. And now that it is falling into place we can really see God's hand in the process, the timing, and the child He's picked for us. God has answered. Amen to that. Finally, Marc's grandmother was named Leah and we plan to use Lia as her nickname.

As for her middle name, Grace was originally our choice for a first name but became very popular, especially among Asian babies. We love the name for its meaning, an undeserved gift.

And so the name on her birth certificate will be Liana Grace YunShun Fuhrman.

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