Help with translation

[kilat]

First off..my first post after really enjoying this forum for a while.

I am of Chinese descent but born in Singapore from parents that were born in Malaysia. Although schooled in Mandarin, I was never good at it and after over 30 years of non-use while living in the US, I have lost most if not all my written and verbal Mandarin.

Anyway..here is something my paternal grandfather wrote for us and I would very much like to know what it means.

學存天道永世昌

BTW here is the Chinese name that I was born with that was also given by my grandfather. 李存善. I already know what it means sort of but would like to see if anyone could give me their opinion.

Thanks a bunch!

[skylee]

學存天道永世昌

Consider "learn to preserve the way of heaven and be prosperous forever".

It looks like something from a 族譜 (genealogy chart/record). It sets the rule of how to name the kids of the family, e.g. the first generation should have 學 in their name, the second 存, the third 天, and so on.

李存善 is a normal name. And do you know there is a brand of vitamins/food supplement called Centrum? It's chinese name is 善存, a very good translation in terms of both pronunciation and meaning. Your name reminds me of this brandname.

[lingjas]

學存天道永世昌 is from a genalogy. It is linked from the li 李 family in 安徽.

存善,retaining kindness maybe you are named because your family wants you to retain your kindness in your heart?

[kilat]

Thank-you for the replies.

Yes indeed it is a genealogy phrase. My grandfather wrote it when he left China. I think he knew that after him his line would probably be spread out all over. I think it is really cool he did that because his children, grand children and great grand children are now spread out all over the world and many of us don't even speak or write Mandarin anymore. It makes it easy to find and connect to each other.

lingjas..could you explain more in detail this: "It is linked from the li 李 family in 安徽. " ?

Many thanks.