What's in a Name? Olympic Passion.

For many new parents, finding the perfect name for your child can be a difficult process.  Baby name consultants can charge thousands of dollars to help you select a name that's unique, but not too unique, and one that your future bundle of joy will love. 

Last August I blogged about some Chinese parents who wanted to name their child @, but were banned by the Chinese authorities.  They've added a ban on parents using foreign symbols and characters in Chinese names, so there won't be $, #,*, or any even & in the future.

But though @ is out, “??,” Aoyun, meaning "Olympic Games" is this year's "it" name.  It's the perfect way for expectant parents to show patriotic passion in a year when China hosts the Olympic Games for the first time in history.

In China it's not uncommon to name children after historic events or patriotic slogans like "Defend China" or "Build the Nation."  I have a Chinese friend who chose his English name "Patrick" because he said it sounded the most like "Patriot," and he felt great patriotism towards China.  

You probably won't meet anyone over the age of 20 named "Olympics," but as early as 1992, when Beijing bid for the 2000 Olympics, the name started to gain popularity with about 680 Aoyuns.  This was put on hold after Beijing lost the bid to Sydney, but after 2001, when Beijing won the 2008 Olympic bid, little Aoyuns became more popular again.

Today, according to the police-run center for information on identity, at least 4,104 Chinese are named "Aoyun," and 92% of them are boys.  Surprisingly, only a few are in Beijing, with the rest located nationwide.

If "??" isn't your favorite baby name, there are still plenty of other names that still express the same Olympic spirit.  Names based on the five Olympic mascots, known as the "Friendlies" or Fuwa, are also popular.  When you put the names of the Fuwa together, Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, Ni Ni, you have the sentence "Beijing Huanying Ni" (?????), which means "Beijing welcomes you."

For the actual character names of the Fuwa, however, the creators took some liberty, so Jing Jing doesn't mean "Capital City" it means "Clear," which is probably a more appropriate name for a baby, or even a Panda bear mascot.   

While Aoyuns will probably never outnumber the 290,798 people named Wenming, or "Civilization," they still probably have the edge over the many newborns named "Zhensheng," or "born from a quake."