# What does my daughter's name mean? (Korean/Chinese help) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937 "2007-11-27T18:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/1 "2007-11-27T18:27:55Z")
As is traditional in my wife’s family, we gave our daughter a Korean middle name chosen by her grandmother. Naturally, we get the question a lot: “Does it mean something?” And it does, supposedly. But no one can say exactly what. The name is “Aeri” (transliterated, of course. The r is really that Korean rolled R/L sound, the korean letter that looks like a blocky Z.) According to my father-in-law, the “Ae” part means love, and the “Ri” part is difficult to translate. He says it’s something similar to “advantage”, but not quite. Despite being a Korean name, apparently it’s somehow related to Chinese as well, though I’m not sure how. We have a cross-stitch sampler in our house that was a gift. It has a Chinese character, some birds and flowers and the English word “love”. When dad came to visit he saw it and said: ‘That’s “Ae” like in in Aeri, “love”.’ So, I don’t know if I need to know what “ri” is in Chinese or Korean. And then is the meaning of the whole just the sum of the parts, or is it more contextual? Anyone want to help a dad out who’s tired of saying “It’s hard to translate, but it means something like ‘love advantage’.” ? ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/2 "2007-11-27T18:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=gonzoron] As is traditional in my wife’s family, we gave our daughter a Korean middle name chosen by her grandmother. [/QUOTE] missed the edit window. Correction: great-grandmother ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/3 "2007-11-27T18:46:40Z")
You’d need to show us the Chinese characters before I could say for sure. Koreans have their own alphabet and language, but a lot of their words are taken from ancient Chinese. That Chinese character of “ae” that you have - in Korean it would be written 애. But no one would know that you meant “love” until you wrote it out in Chinese, because “ae” in Korean could also mean “child.” (You could tell by the context as well, I suppose.) There are a number of words like that, such as “ma,” which is 마 in Korean but 馬 or 麻 if it’s written in Chinese, and means “horse” and “evil” respectively. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/4 "2007-11-27T18:54:13Z")
Okay, actually, I think I know which Chinese character you’re talking about: 利. It has multiple meanings - it can mean “profitable,” but it can also mean “sharp” or “helpful” or “convenient” or “get through to.” I think the meaning you are looking for is closer to “beneficial” or “wholesome,” which combined with 애 could mean something like “a love that is beneficial” or “a love that gives” (as opposed to a love that is harmful or greedy). ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/5 "2007-11-27T19:00:08Z")
“Love” and “advantage” are both tennis terms. Clearly, your daughter is destined to build her life around tennis. Buy her a racket now. :rolleyes: :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/6 "2007-11-27T19:00:30Z")
[QUOTE=gonzoron] And then is the meaning of the whole just the sum of the parts, or is it more contextual? [/QUOTE] I would say more contextual. My Korean name, for example, consists for characters meaning “the eldest” and “without exception; thoroughly.” (윤주; 胤周 ) It’s an unusual combination of characters; usually with the name 윤주 the Chinese characters for “shine brightly” and “gemstone” are used. Anyway, my parents told me that they meant my name to mean “an eldest child who is balanced in everything.” (Talk about pressure.) ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/7 "2007-12-14T19:47:04Z")
Just wanted to say thanks to HazelNutCoffee. Sounds like what I’m looking for. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![yelle95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yelle95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelle95)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/8 "2013-02-19T20:22:33Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > I would say more contextual. My Korean name, for example, consists for characters meaning “the eldest” and “without exception; thoroughly.” (윤주; 胤周 ) It’s an unusual combination of characters; usually with the name 윤주 the Chinese characters for “shine brightly” and “gemstone” are used. Anyway, my parents told me that they meant my name to mean “an eldest child who is balanced in everything.” (Talk about pressure.) So if 윤 and 리 is combined: 윤리 (yoon ri ) what could be the meaning of this name? the eldest..? ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/9 "2013-02-20T01:09:24Z")
Again, I would need to see the Chinese character to know the meaning. Yoon could mean the eldest but it could also mean “to shine”; Ri could mean “profit” or “road” or any number of things. ---
**Author:** ![yelle95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yelle95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelle95)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/10 "2014-02-11T17:45:21Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Again, I would need to see the Chinese character to know the meaning. Yoon could mean the eldest but it could also mean “to shine”; Ri could mean “profit” or “road” or any number of things. I’m really not sure what is its chinese characters since, I just made it up… hehe. I’m using it as my nickname in school. 🙂 I choose it because I know it has a beautiful meaning behind it, and I guess it also reflect my personality to… Can you give those meanings of “ri” that you are thinking of? other than ‘profit or road’ if it has another meaning…? So “Yoon” could also mean _“to shine”_… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/11 "2014-02-11T18:20:21Z")
Whoah. Multilingual zombies. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/12 "2014-02-12T01:43:49Z")
> [@yelle95](#): > > I’m really not sure what is its chinese characters since, I just made it up… hehe. I’m using it as my nickname in school. 🙂 I choose it because I know it has a beautiful meaning behind it, and I guess it also reflect my personality to… > Can you give those meanings of “ri” that you are thinking of? other than ‘profit or road’ if it has another meaning…? > > So “Yoon” could also mean _“to shine”_… Actually, 윤리 (yoonri) means “ethics” or “civics” in Korean. But a lot of Korean people have names that sound like a normal word but that have different meanings due to their Chinese characters. For example, my brother’s name is 준수 (joonsoo) which as a normal word means “to be presentable” or “to respect the law.” But the Chinese characters behind his name actually mean something completely different. I hope this makes sense. Basically, in most cases it’s impossible to know the meaning of a Korean syllable without knowing what the Chinese character is behind it. So the syllable “ri” can have many meanings. 1. Fence 籬 2. To rule 理 3. To be clever 羸 4. Village 里 5. Poop 痢 6. Glass 璃 7. Fish 鯉 and the list goes on and on. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/13 "2014-02-12T02:58:34Z")
I pick #5. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/14 "2014-02-12T02:59:39Z")
Actually, it specifically means diarrhea. I’m not even joking. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/15 "2014-02-12T04:43:30Z")
i like how the same two person continued a conversation a year apart without missing a beat. i hope we don’t have to wait another year for his opinion on shiny diarrhea. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/16 "2014-02-12T04:49:57Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Actually, it specifically means diarrhea. I’m not even joking. Well, when the whole village eats some bad fish, things get ugly. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/17 "2014-02-12T09:54:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Well, when the whole village eats some bad fish, things get ugly. Clever! Little Nemo, you rule! ---
**Author:** ![yelle95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yelle95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelle95)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/18 "2014-07-31T18:55:41Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Actually, 윤리 (yoonri) means “ethics” or “civics” in Korean. But a lot of Korean people have names that sound like a normal word but that have different meanings due to their Chinese characters. > > For example, my brother’s name is 준수 (joonsoo) which as a normal word means “to be presentable” or “to respect the law.” But the Chinese characters behind his name actually mean something completely different. > > I hope this makes sense. Basically, in most cases it’s impossible to know the meaning of a Korean syllable without knowing what the Chinese character is behind it. > > So the syllable “ri” can have many meanings. > > 1. Fence 籬 > 2. To rule 理 > 3. To be clever 羸 > 4. Village 里 > 5. Poop 痢 > 6. Glass 璃 > 7. Fish 鯉 > > and the list goes on and on. I choose no. 3 ^^ To be clever 羸 to complete the name Yoonri Yoon= to shine Ri = to be clever Actually I just made this name up as my nickname…hehe anyway I want it korean too… in english I write it as Yoonrie, with letter e… but in korean it is just simple Yoonri , without e… in hangul I write it like this 윤리 anyway, Thank you so much for this, I have known a beautiful meaning of this nickname of mine… I really appreciate it. ^^ Kamsahamnida! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-daughters-name-mean-korean-chinese-help/427937/19 "2014-07-31T19:31:45Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Anyway, my parents told me that they meant my name to mean “an eldest child who is balanced in everything.” (Talk about pressure.) Particularly if you were the second child. 😃