Naming conventions

It is late but mummy's active mind refused to shut down. As it wandered far and wide, it went back to the years and days when we were deciding on your respective names. You guys should know the origins of your naming conventions and this needs to be pen down before the mind loses it.

We shortlisted 3-4 names back in 2006 and they probably sounded and appealed to us in many ways then.

1) Xavier- loved the meaning but not the initials i.e. XORY. You might end up as the laughing stock in school or army when you have people calling you "XO" - for the hard liquor, the premium sauce or delicious fried beehoon. And we were uncertain if you will turn out to be the opposite of your namesake.

2) Kayden - sounded really unique then (but quite common now) and it means companion or friend. As our first born, we certainly see you as our new treasured companion.

3) Tristan & Marcus were in the list too but were out-voted along the way.

We asked Gong-gong if he would like to name his grandson and he was more than happy to do so.

瑞 - He said the first Minister of Finance was non other than the late Mr Goh Keng Swee 吴庆瑞 and he was a great man. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goh_Keng_Swee Furthermore, the word means longevity and auspicious.

扬- Back then, there was a "Project Superstar" show fever and even a junior version "Campus Superstar" for those young aspiring vocalists. Grandma was probably charmed by the young champion and felt his name sounded great - 志阳; he was in one of the top schools and definitely sang well. Gong-gong came up with 瑞阳 and we agreed that we would love to have a boy with a sunny disposition. Alas, grandma found that having the "sun" in your name might be too "strong" and reqeusted for a change of character even though it was already registered. Nothing scientific here but we decided to adopt 扬 (发扬, 发扬光大) which means to develop and spread the good and positive teachings was chosen eventually.

Mummy wanted a "K" sounding name like Kieran or Kaylen but papa was of the opinion that it sounded too similar to Kayden and might lack identity. We were uninspired and Tristan came up again. The thought of having another son that might be as handsome as Brad Pitt's character in Legends of the Fall did come across the mummy's mind though ;p This, of course, was not the overriding reason. It was afterall a Knight's name, is less common, sounded great with the surname and will not result in any contentious initials.

恒 - We picked this instead of 宏 as suggested by Gong-gong。恒 means ever-lasting and persistent (永恒，恒心) , which we hope you can adopt positively in your personality. And coincidentally, your chinese name is also a derivation of your godparents' names - godma is 瑞莉 and godpa is 俊恒.