[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!