I have a new Chinese name! From back on Saipan, my Chinese friends would ask me if I had a Chinese name. I’d gotten a few suggestions from everyone from girlfriends to waitresses, but none quite seemed to work. Whenever I would take an unofficial survey of a name with other Chinese friends, the responses would be lukewarm, and the names just didn’t seem to fit sound-wise or meaning-wise.

So, recently I asked my friend, Jian, to help me set up a renren account (the Chinese version of Facebook; social networking site) since the site is in Chinese, and I cannot yet read Chinese characters. In doing so, he chose a name for my profile. He chose 顾瑞奇; “Goo-ree-chi”; sounds a bit like goodridge).

You can call me 顾瑞奇!

When he told me about it, something clicked! So, I asked my friend, Gao Ying, in Beijing what she thought. She replied: “Yes，in Chinese characters ” 瑞’ means lucky and good , “奇” means special and rare. This Chinese name sounds good.”

I like it, too. Like I said, it sounds a little like Goodridge. Plus, it has the “guru” sound in it, and, as Gao Ying mentioned, the meaning is one I can definitely get used to!

If you go to https://translate.google.com, you can hear how it is pronounced.(copy and past 顾瑞奇 into the box and select Chinese to English, then click “Listen”)

I also have a kaixin account and a Chinese blog account. If you’re a member of either of the social networking sites (renren, kaixin, please do add me to your friends list!)

Here’s my Chinese social network connection information to help fulfill my destiny to conquer China:

RENREN: https://www.renren.com/profile.do?id=351725782

KAIXIN: https://www.kaixin001.com/home/?uid=98428953

SINA.COM BLOG: https://blog.sina.com.cn/jamaican

And here’s what the renren page looks like.