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Friday, April 9, 2010

....and what's in a name?


Dad was ecstatic, pleasurably rapturous, and gripped by an euphoric streak that ran through him for days! He was on top of the world, even though he was not a first time dad.

A bundle of joy, a new ray of sunshine in the shape of a healthy nine and a half pounder male offspring, fifth in the family has arrived. Someone in the family who looks unmistakeably like him; tall and dark, .....yes, tall and dark and real fun to be with, that is if you like the cries of a baby who just came into this world. Dad was grinning from ear to ear, day after day. Obviously he liked it, as my beloved mum used to tell me when she reminisces.

Dad took a couple of days off from his business just to be with his new kid, and to name him, ....and oops!, I mean name me.

It wasn't tough. It was a breeze to him. The joy to name an offspring meaningfully just came naturally, and dad was sure he made the right choice.


I was named to sound like "one success" in fujian language, spelled "cheeseng" in English. The written chinese character "chee" is all about determination, drive & will-power and "seng" means success. That's what dad wants me to be, that's what joy can bring any parent when success comes to his child after he had persevered.


At the time when my eldest "baby-boomer" brother was born, dad's business made him his first thousand dollars in net profit. Dad aptly named him to sound like "one thousand", spelled "cheecheng" and my second brother "cheekiat" to sound like his business is already "kiat" meaning established. Now as the third male offspring and when dad's business on a roll, I'm "cheeseng" and you know what that means....


Down the road in my street of life, many things happened between then and thirty four years later, when I started to write under a pen-name "yeesang". Yes, that's the name of a chinese new year dish that will do you good the whole year when you toss the yeesang high in the air with chopsticks and holler "Nian Nian You Yu!" (that's in Mandarin), and that is supposed to bring abundance, prosperity and vigour for the enthusiastic tosser, the whole year through.


...and what's in a name like cheeseng or yeesang?.....nothing less than abundant or prosperous; and of course "Nian nian you yu!"............provided he perseveres. I figure that works for all names.


So now here I go, step by step.... 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi uncle..I think your daddy also did a right choice to have you too !! hahahaha..
From: debby

yeesang said...

Yup!....I was born in the night time, that's why I'm so dark...kekekeke...

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