[name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] is my favorite lily name but [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] has a little more honor connections to me.
李 (Li3 in chinese pinyin and Lý in Vietnamese both prn lee) is my grandmother’s family name so both [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] and [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] honors my grandmother. Li is associated with plum blossoms or beauty, while the repetition in names (like [name_f]Lili[/name_f]) is often seen as affectionate and auspicious.
My grandmother’s given name is 英 (Yīng in pinyin and [name_m]Anh[/name_m] in Vietnamese) and sounds pretty close to An in Vietnamese so LiliANa also incorpoates her given name. 濂 (Lián but prn lee-en) can mean waterfall in literature and is also a name of a river so it could also honor (albeit a bit of a stretch) my grandfather who’s family name is a name of a different river.
Do yall think I should choose [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f], my favorite with one honor connection or [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] with multiple honor connections?
Summary
I feel people like to put more emphasis on honors than liking the sound of the name but I’ll be terribly sad if the reason I couldn’t use [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] is because I had already used another lily name. During my years of playing with combos here, having exact honors wasn’t really feasible since their names didn’t really translate well or I didn’t like the names it would translate to. Their culture also doesn’t do exact honors anyway so I had just collected names I like the sound and meaning of, and if I could find a way to connect it back to them, it was a bonus. When I eventually noticed [name_f]Liliana[/name_f], it just seemed a perfect way to honor my grandmother. [name_f]She[/name_f] worked hard to support 9 kids, paid for her husband to finish schooling, and rebuilt the family’s wealth after fleeing their homeland while only having a ~3rd grade education so she’s the first person I want to honor. I do think the name is different enough since her middle name isn’t in it and I would be using different characters.
It was only relatively recently that I figured out other ways to honor them via their journey in life such as these comboshttps://forum.nameberry.com/t/a-quartet-of-boys/425841/116?u=kailun
I do like the sound of [name_f]Liliana[/name_f], don’t get me wrong but I like [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] more.
I’m essentially always for going with the name you prefer over an honour. If you prefer [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f], go with it. It still contains an honour for a the wonderful woman you want to honour, and it’s the one you love more.
I’m not sure what your plans for a middle are, but could you do [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] _____ with an [name_f]Anne[/name_f] derived middle to incorporate both her family and given names?
I think Lilivere would be my choice. I love that Liliana connects in multiple ways for you – but going with what you love most feels equally important?
I might be wrong (and this is based off limited knowledge) but is Anh associated with flowers/petals? so a Lily name could connect there too? and… if we’re being stretchy, Lilivere can mean “Lily + white wave” so wave → water → river?
I think I’d choose [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f]! I completely understand why [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] is tempting with all the extra honour connections, especially given how much your grandmother means to you. But Li is already a meaningful connection, and I don’t think you need to maximise the number of honour links for it to count. Honestly, the fact that you say you’d be terribly sad to lose [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] because you’d already used another [name_f]Lily[/name_f] name feels pretty telling. If [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] is the one you love more, I’d go with it. [name_m]The[/name_m] honour can be meaningful without being the most elaborate one.
[name_f]Liliana[/name_f] is very close to my own heart because of its significance to my grandmas, so I’ve gone down a similar path! I also like [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] best in general, but since you like [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] more, I don’t think there’s any harm in gravitating toward that! I agree that you could easily add a middle with “an” in it that could add the missing significance.
If I were you I would choose [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f]. Both names are beautiful and have a significant and meaningful honor connection with Li, and have the auspicious benefit of [name_f]Lili[/name_f]. At this point, I don’t think that the extra connections with [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] (especially since one is a big stretch IMO), outweigh your genuine love for [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f]. I like the idea of using a middle name with an “an” sound. I think even [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] [name_m]Anh[/name_m] would be a great combo!
Your grandmother seems like such a strong, inspiring woman. I truly think that [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] is such a beautiful way to honor her while also using a name that you’ve always loved!
Go with the name you like better! [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] is definitely the choice I’d pick for you.
If honouring your grandmother is really important, and you feel [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] isn’t enough (although I think it is given the Li connection), make [name_f]Ana[/name_f] or An or [name_f]Anne[/name_f] her middle name!
Yes, the original meaning of 英 was petal (I believe it was to describe the center of the flowering plant) and can still mean as such in names though it’s more modern meaning is hero which is what I tend to think of it as due to her accomplishments. [name_m]Her[/name_m] name was 蘭英 and the first character means orchid so her parents were most likely were using the meaning petal to mean “orchid blossom.”
I prefer the flow of longer middles so [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f] and [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] tend to go in the middle spot of my combos though I do like the name [name_f]Anya[/name_f] so could be [name_f]Anya[/name_f] [name_f]Lilivere[/name_f]. My current combo for the lilies is [name_f]Athena[/name_f] Lilivere/Liliana. So I guess I’m incidentally honoring her again in the first name as she used her intellect to persevere, fight battles, and rise from hardships, and thus become a hero to her family