Finding a Chinese Name for Zoé

Finding an English name for a baby girl wasn’t too hard. I thought that it would be nice to have a short and simple name.

I did like quite a lot of names but they were for one reason or another not appropriate. Finally, a visit to the website biblical-baby-names.com sealed the choice when I found out that Zoé – pronounced Zo-ay – meant “eternal life” and was part of one of my favourite verses – “I am the way, the truth and the life (zoe)” – John 14:6

Great! If we have a girl, she will be called Zoé. The tough choice was for the boy’s name. Up to the day of the birth, we still hadn’t decided on a boy’s name.

So, thankfully, we came up with the name Zoé Hanne on the third day of Zoé’s life. Hanne is a Dutch variation of Hannah as we wanted her to have a European name.

As the choice of an English name had taken us months, we didn’t even try to think of a Chinese name out of the thousands of possibilities…

However, now that we have more time, energy and inspiration, the search for a Chinese name is ON!

Zoé Hanne means eternal life – the wonder of living and favoured grace.

I think it would be nice to give Zoé a Chinese name that adds on to her English name. I am still thinking of possibilities…

Zoé loves water, nature, people… She is lively, joyful, expressive, introspective, adventurous, likes traveling and exploring, enjoys playing with all kinds of people, likes music and dancing…

An idea of what we desire for her…

For her life to make an impact in this world as a blessing to the nations, for her to be a sensitive, spirit-filled messenger of God who demonstrates God’s power to speak life, healing, love, truth and freedom…

For someone who is able to appreciate the arts, the sciences, sports, nature, culture… and at the same time is full of practical wisdom and ability to use all her senses as well as spiritual intuition…

For someone who will be engaging, intelligent, caring, loving, fun, adaptable, gracious, passionate, courageous, radical, street-smart, and pure.

Which two characters would be able to encapsulate all the above into a beautiful and meaningful name for Zoé? Our target is to select a name before her 1st birthday. We will hold a special christening ceremony for our dear one and pray prophetically over her life as we give Zoé her new Chinese name!

(By Cheryl)

Cheryl & Zoe