Help w/ Translation from Mother's Tombstone

[mikew2069]

Hi,

Can anyone help me with a translation of this picture? My mother passed when I was very yound and I've always been very curious as to what it meant, but never really knew where to go.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[Quest]

Is it a name?

王 (wang/wong): surname; king; leader

冬 (dong): winter

[mikew2069]

I don't think it's a name but I have no idea. Her maiden name was Chein if that helps...

[renzhe]

Yeah, it's Wang Dong, probably her name.

[mikew2069]

Thank you so much.. So does that name have a meaning?

[mikew2069]

Oops, I didn't realize the second post (Quest) had definitions. Thanks Quest.

But why would her name mean "King Winter"? Why not Queen or something more feminine? Could these symbols possibly mean anything else, or is this pretty black and white?

Thanks again for your help.

[imron]

Wang (King) is the surname.

It's pretty black and white.

[Lu]

Wang Dong looks like a name, surname Wang, given name Dong (which means winter).

But the OP says his mother's maiden name is Chen (I assume Chein is a typo). Or is her married surname Wang (or Wong)?

[renzhe]

王 (wang) is a very common last name. While the character means "king", surnames are basically surnames and don't imply anything about the person. Stephen King is not a king, it's just his last name.

冬 (dong) means winter.

There are several things to consider -- depending on where your mother is from, she may have dropped her maiden name when marrying. She may also have spoken a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin -- the pronunciation people are giving are all standard Mandarin pronunciation. A Shanghainese, Cantonese or Taiwanese speaker would pronounce these characters differently. The meaning would still be the same.

The only thing that's sure is that the characters are 王 and 冬, and that they look like a name.