Names drawn from the classics, not from fortune-telling
Instead of reading fortunes into a name, we return to the sentence where the character first stood. One character each from the Analects, Laozi, the Great Learning, the I Ching, and Xunzi — so that when the child asks where the name came from, there is a sentence to tell.
Laozi 8: “The highest good is like water.” Water does not contend; it flows low and benefits all things.
Analects II: “At fifteen I set my will upon learning.” The origin of calling age fifteen 志學.
Analects II: “Keep the old warm, and know the new.” Warmth and learning held in a single character.
The Great Learning: cultivate the self, then the family, the state, the world. Everything begins with the self.
I Ching, Kun: “The noble one carries all things with a virtue thick as the earth.”
Xunzi: “Blue comes from the indigo plant, yet is bluer than indigo.” Growth that surpasses the teacher.
A hanja name is a once-in-a-lifetime decision.
Would you like a quick tour of how to learn idioms through music? It only takes a minute!