So What's In A Name?

So what's in a name, anyway? (I've blogged about this before.) In China it's everything. There's great significance and meaning. Oftentimes it defines the person, providing elucidation to who they are and the character traits they possess. Names are adored in China, and most everyone there seems to feel that every name is beautiful and every name is good. In America, names are cute, they're fun or they just plain sound good or cool. Sometimes they represent the remembrance of someone older in the family, like a father, mother, grandfather or grandmother.

For us, naming Xiao Qian something other than Xiao Qian has been difficult. We've always wanted to keep her Chinese name so that she has that connection to her motherland. But we also just like the name, and we like it's meaning (read side-bar definition in right hand column of this Blog). In fact, we've kept the Chinese names for our other adoptive daughters - Poppy's is Zu Qiao, and Willow's is Hui Xuan. (I won't provide the phonetic pronunciation here. Besides, I'd probably butcher it. Xiao Qian still laughs profusely at my pathetic Mandarin "skills".) We love all of our kids names and feel special bonds to them, like most people do to theirs and their children's. All of ours have two syllables, but other than that it's hard to find a common theme between them, other than the fact that poppies and willow trees happen to be forms of plant life (which wasn't necessarily intentional, by the way).

So many have asked, "What will you name her?" Well, we've finally landed on a name and would like to share it with you. We're going with the two syllable theme, and we're going with a name that we also really love (of course) and feel is fun. But we're also giving her a name that fills us with great joy in our hearts because of what the Lord has done for us. And because of what He has done for us, we can sing and make melody with our heart "to the Lord". (Ephesians 5:19b) When we think of this verse, we think of a piper with a flute joyfully whistling a tune of jubilee. So you see, because Jesus has put a new song into our hearts, we're singing a new melody, and we're doing it with a new instrument, the family instrument of Piper Joy, and thus her new name.

Piper's have a homonym meaning too, which we think also visually describes this remarkable girl that is now a Kruggel. They're fast running birds, scurrying about here and there trying to find their next apetizing morsel to consume while perfectly dodging wave water on the beach's edge. They're so cute, and so full of life and energy. We can't think of a better creation to describe who this little gift of Piper Joy is to us.

So there you have it, Piper Joy Xiao Qian Kruggel. Quite the mouthful, isn't it? When we asked her if she would mind if we named her Piper Joy, she said that would be just fine. I think she would have been content with any name that we gave her, quite frankly. But when we described what pipers were, under both definitions, she seemed to light up and thought it was very acceptable. We believe she'll also grow to love it with time.

Thank you for joining with us in making a joyful noise unto the Lord, knowing that He is the only one that can change a heart and make it love as He loves. That's a melody composed by the Maestro, and that's the song we sing over her.

Wan an (good-night) Piper Joy,