I like my name
My name is 思敏.
I like my name. I like its meaning. I like the thought my mom put into it — what she hoped for me to be, to have.
思 means to think, to consider.
敏 means quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart.
In high school, we discussed our name meanings. I shared with my friend, C, that my name meant "sharp-minded" or "quick-witted." She responded that I was indeed sharp, that I sometimes poked her. Very pointy. She said it in jest, but the comment stuck with me.3
思 is my generation name. I share it with my sister, but it is not part of a generation poem.
I didn't know about generation poems until college, when I met two Taiwanese friends with family poems. I was so envious when I learned that their names had such history, such poetry.
I later asked my mother why we didn't have a family poem.2 She informed me that we did, but my paternal grandfather decided not to keep the tradition and gave his children the freedom to not follow the poem.
I was so bummed to learn this. I would have loved to have a name that was part of the family poem.
I asked what the poem was, but she did not know.
My name is Sylvia.
I like this name too. I don't care for the meaning (spirit of the wood),1 but I like how it looks and sounds. There's something about the letters y, l, and v — and how they sit next to each other.
My mother was at a grocery store, in line behind a woman making a purchase with a check. My mother saw her sign her name and thought it was beautiful. So she named me Sylvia.
She later learned the name Dawn. She said if she could travel back in time, she'd name me Dawn instead.
I much prefer Sylvia.