Ivan's Chinese Name

I have been pondering on what Chinese name I should give Ivan. Though he is a Swede, he is still technically half Singaporean, so I think he should have a Chinese name.

I spent months before Jovan and Angel were born, thinking about what Chinese names to give them. I was reading (yes, READING!) the Chinese dictionary, playing around with many nice (and weird) combination before I end up with their names. Jovan is 劭奕 and Angel is 嘉萱.

Now, stranded on the other part of the earth, and my trusty old, battered Chinese dictionary lying in Singapore (well to be more specific, it's in one of the moving boxes in my brother's storeroom!), I am really clueless! I know that I have basically 3 requirements:

1. To reflect his personality. He is a real happy-go-lucky baby! He will dance to whatever kind of music and he doesn't dance to show off and get praises from anybody. Many times we caught him dancing in the room, kitchen, under the table, any space which he can possibly fit in and when the music is done, he continued with whatever he was doing! He's a real 乐天派! ^_^

2. I hope that he will keep the 劭 like in Jovan's name.

3. The combination should sounds good, means well and look good when written.

For months I have been cracking my brain, testing combinations to no avail. I got frustrated and decided to stop thinking about it for awhile since there is no hurry for him to get one.

Armed with the 3 requirements above, I left for the ski trip, hoping to get inspiration from the beautiful scenery and relaxed mind. I'll probably blog about the trip later) The scenery was really beautiful.

I got sick during the trip, possibly due to some amount of stress and anxiety. So I came home and emailed my friends to ask for suggestions and inspiration. One of my super best friend (she's like a sister to me) came back with a suggestion given by her friend. We both loved it! Now we have a Chinese name for Ivan:

劭恺 - 劭 means admirable, excellent. 恺 means joyful, kind.

What a good name!