By any other name would smell as sweet."
Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
It was a few days ago I read from online news that former football star 尹志強 has passed away. I have never been a fan of football or (until I immigrated) any sport but it is a pity for anyone to go at a relatively young age. On the brighter side is he is in a better place and free from the pain now. However, what really caught my attention to the article is the name of the reporter - 誦言(meaning eloquent speech). Even more inspiring is that her (it is a 'she', I have googled the name) surname is 談, 談誦言. All three characters are under the radical '言', and she got into working in journalism. I don't know if this is her realname but even if it is a pen name you have to give her the credit for combining it with her surname, which is not easy since not every Chinese surname has meaning.
During the 粵語殘片 era there was a comic actor named 伊秋水, obviously derived from the phrase 秋水伊人 (A beauty with enchanting eyes). I've always thought this is a stage name since '伊' doesn't sound like a surname but then he has a son named 伊雷 who was also an actor. For years I wonder if he named his son's name after his own stage name. Turn out, according to Chinese wikipedia, '伊' is indeed his surname and his real name is 伊景榮. By the way, whoever wrote that entry has been very professional, it lists all newspaper reference and even page number, a rarity in Chinese Wiki.
A few years back it had been a public outcry for lack of supervision when it came to adult content being printed in Hong Kong mainstream newspapers. Some kind of committee was pushing for law to regulate adult material in mass media. Heading that movement was a guy named 黃克廉. Someone quipped that he was born to play that part.
Just because combining the surname to give an extra meaning is not necessary a good name. 亦舒 is a writer I never warm up to. One of her more famous novels, 《玫瑰的故事》, happened to be one I dislike the most. It is contrived even by her standard. Basically it is about how a woman destroys the lives of the men who cross her path with her devastating beauty. If that reads like the wet dreams of some airhead bimbos it is because that is exactly what the book is. And such shamelessly trite story has to be repeated four times because the book is divided into four different stages of the heroine's life. 亦舒 named her 玫瑰, as if that is not nausea inducing enough, her surname is '黃', 黃玫瑰. Thanks god 亦舒 is not my mom.
My surname is 梁, which is one that has a meaning because 梁 is actually what 樑 was in the ancient time. So if I want to take advantage of my 'meaningful' surname to name name, the obvious will be 梁作棟 but 作棟 would be the butts of endless jokes. Alternatively I can go for 梁上君, how is that for a little black humour? :-)
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