Went for my 4th gynae appointment on Monday and we're pleased to announce that we have a baby girl!
I've always wanted a daughter from as far back as I can remember but I was also secretly hoping that my firstborn would be a boy. Nothing to do with the archaic Chinese mentality that boys are better but purely 'coz I had always wanted a big brother who would protect and spoil me, much like how some of my friends' brothers treat them. Also, I truly believe that eldest girls tend to be a wee bit selfish (after all, I'm one myself).
Now comes the part which I have been putting off... choosing names.
Sometime in the year 2002, I was sitting in my room and I suddenly decided that if ever I had a daughter, her name would be Jade Toh (yes, I've known since then that I would end up with my darling hubby). I even sent him an sms that night telling him my wish. Jade because it's part of my Chinese name and also because it epitomises a thing of Chinese beauty.
A few nights after we announced the news of my pregnancy to my in-laws, we were dropped with a bombshell. MIL coolly told us that they already had names for their firstborn grandson and granddaughter... Toh Teck Ooi and Toh Teck Choo respectively, and that there would be no two ways about it. All the more I was wishing for a boy 'coz not only does "Teck" sound not very feminine, "Choo" (meaning Pearl) would clash with Jade! Moreover, as Julian put it, the names are so very ol' skool!
So after the ultrasound that day, I promptly proceeded to find out the pin-yin of the name as prounounced in Mandarin. Bro-in-law no. 1, with his Chinese-English dictionary, helped discover that Toh Teck Choo would equate to Toh De Zhu which, while sounding really nice in Mandarin, simply won't do. I can already imagine her teachers mispronouncing and calling her "To The Zoo". Julian maintains that it's still better than Teck Choo though but I think I can live with "Choo Choo" more than "The Zoo".
Well, since I really don't have a choice in the Chinese name, I'm not going to let it bother me so much (let my daughter blame her grandparents later if she wants) but now I'm under pressure to find her a nice English name that she won't be able to complain about. But I so like the name Jade.... It's not fair!! Any comments, people? Should I stick to Jade and allow my daughter to have an identity crisis as to which gem she is or choose another name? After all, I may not have another girl....
Labels: Motherhood
