At about 1:30 pm on [name]Monday[/name] [name]July[/name] 15th 2013 ([name]China[/name] time) Mayna Tahirih [name]Rose[/name] [name]Luckie[/name] was born into this world via c-section (11 days ahead of ‘schedule’ due to low amniotic fluid levels). She is a healthy and peaceful little beauty, a relatively tiny 2.8 kg (~6.2 pounds). Her brother, Rayhan [name]Rees[/name] [name]Luckie[/name], who turns three on [name]July[/name] 17th, is happy to meet her and has already done the math (3+1) to discover that we now have four people in our immediate family. He’s a bit confused about how Mayna was in his mom’s belly, but he’s trying to wrap his mind around it. The mom, [name]Lily[/name], is doing well, though of course weak from the surgery. Her spirit is high, and her physical health is exactly as would be expected post c-section surgery.
Mayna is a Chinese name that combines the characters 美 (‘mei’) and 纳 (‘na’). 美 means ‘beautiful’ and is also the first character in the name for the United States (美国） (which is where I am from/my cultural background). 纳 is the first character of the Naxi （纳西） people, an ethnic minority from SW [name]China[/name] (which where my wife is from/her cultural background)(you can read a bit about the Naxi people here- Nakhi people - Wikipedia). Thus, the name Mayna brings together both my wife and I’s cultural background in a nice, meaningful way.
It may also have some other potential roots, but they would be loosely connected (such as, there is a Welsh name Maina which may mean ‘bird’, a Sanskrit name Maina which may mean ‘intelligent’ and/or ‘message from God’, a Greek name Maena which may mean ‘moon’. It may also have roots in Russian and Italian, as there are several localities (cities, counties, townships) in [name]Russia[/name] and [name]Italy[/name] called ‘Mayna’. And when looking it up on LinkedIn, most people with the name seem to be from [name]Brazil[/name], making me think it may even have Portuguese roots somehow or another. These other potential roots are interesting (though I don’t know how accurate), but the Chinese meaning is the significant one for us.)
Tahirih is a Persian name that means ‘pure one’. It has religious significance for us (we are [name]Baha[/name]'is-- www.bahai.org). A short story about who Tahirih was can be found here: http://www.bahai.us/2011/08/25/tahirih-a-tribute/
She was one of the 19 disciples paving the way for the opening of the [name]Baha[/name]'i [name]Faith[/name], an amazing poet, and a staunch supporter of equal rights for women at a time (mid 19th century) and in a place (Iran) where women had basically no rights. The words she said to her executioner before she was strangled to death by the veil she refused to wear, in 1852, were “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”
[name]Rose[/name] is the middle name of my great grandmother.
(For any of you who understand Chinese, her full Chinese name is 和美纳 and her brother’s name is 和瑞晗。)
We are overjoyed to have a girl! Many hours of research went in to potential boy’s names (as the girl’s name choice was made when my wife was pregnant with the first born, and has never faded away since then), but in all honesty we were really hoping for a girl. [name]One[/name] boy and one girl. Perfect.
