Cantonese Girl's Name Help

[AppleBlossom]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to the forum. We are a multi-lingual / multi-racial family. I have a 4 year old daughter and would like some input on the names. My parents are originally from Hong Kong so I can speak Cantonese, but I'm cannot write or read it well. 

 

Our family name is 余. We have a few names but our starting point is 子恩. Simple and meaningful. My mom pointed out that she' seen 恩 used more commonly with boys, but also with girls, just not as common. I know 子 is quite common nowadays to use with boys and girls. So my concern became when 子恩 are paired together -- it is too masculine especially on paper. We love the way it sounds overall especially when shortened to everyday 恩恩. 

 

We've gotten some suggestions from close friends that are well versed and literate in Chinese and that has given us some options. They explained the names and changes through. We have a few favorites, but would like to hear from everyone first before we share what our thoughts are. I would like input and feedback on the names. I would love to hear your impression of the name if you were to see it on paper and if you were to meet a little girl with that name, as well how they are paired together, the overall balance, sound, meaning etc. If you have any suggestions or advice, I would love to hear it.  Please advise. Thanks so much!

 

Some suggestions are below:

芷恩 

子欣  

 

Alternatively, abandon the 子 / 芷  all together.

嘉欣 / 嘉恩

楚欣 / 楚恩

彩恩 / 彩欣

[skylee]

”So my concern became when 子恩 are paired together -- it is too masculine especially on paper. “

子恩 is fine as a female name. But perhaps I am not as well versed and literate in Chinese as your friends. Haha.

PS - There are loads of 嘉欣 / 嘉恩 (a close relative of mine being one, though with different characters). You should choose them if you want a very common name. The same applies to the character 芷.

[Lu]

I'm not a native speaker, but to me, 子恩 also sounds perfectly fine as a girl's name (and I happen to really like this name, but that's just my opinion). Anyway in Chinese, girl's and boys' names are all relative, cf. 吴健雄.

 

That said, if numerous people around you say that 子恩 sounds masculine to them, there is a risk that your daughter will have to explain again and again through the course of her life that yes, that name is more commonly used for boys, but no, she really is a girl/woman. As a person whose name is often misspelled, I can imagine that can get annoying. So in that respect, it might not be a bad idea to change the name.

 

Are there any other characters that sound like 恩 in Cantonese and that might look more feminine? Perhaps you could consider that? I agree with Skylee that 欣 and 嘉 are really common in names.

[lips]

I agree.  子恩 may be less common but it's perfectly fine for a girl's name.  I like it very much.

[AppleBlossom]

Thank you so much everyone for your input. Now I feel so much better and confident in my original choice for her name! I'm not well versed in the sense I can't read and write it very...I'm very elementary in that sense. So I began to doubt and second guess my choices. It didn't help when I try to google and search Instagram of people with the name after my mom said it's bit boyish -- and only photos of boys appear!

Thanks again for the kind comments!

xo

[Lu]

It didn't help when I try to google and search Instagram of people with the name after my mom said it's bit boyish -- and only photos of boys appear!

Google here shows mostly photos of boys but certainly also a few girls (and lot of clothes, landscapes and other assorted non-human pictures). The results depend on the country you're searching from, it appears.

[AppleBlossom]

Thanks. I'm in the US. Suppose that will automatically make it more difficult to search properly.

 

I'm just so happy that there are people who like the name and feel it works fine on a girl.