When we received the referral, we were told her name, Cao (surname) An Hong. Cao, we were told is one of the 100 traditional surnames in China and Nanjing Social Welfare Institute gave this surname to all the children who entered their orphanage in 2005. We were told it is pronounced "TS" but the way they said it did not sound like that to me. I'm still working on figuring out how to pronounce it. They also said it had no translation since it was not the "chosen" name to which the Chinese people give much thought. Since then I have read it can mean "people of the same kind."
An means "peaceful" and this was chosen by her caregivers soon after her arrival at Nanjing's SWI. At that time, since An would have been in much pain from her nerve injury, the nannies were probably hoping she would experience peace! In her report from the SWI they said "she cried nonstop" and that "we hope her life will be peaceful." Hong means "red" according to our agency, but I've also noted it can mean "rainbow."
In chosing her name, we knew right away we wanted to keep the "An." We have kept part of the original name of each of our children. But we had a more difficult time with the first name. We'd long thought of "Katie." Then came "Lucy," "Sarah," and "Sophie." When Aunt Janice thought we should name her "Pizza," Chloe retorted, "she's our baby; we get to name her!" But we think we have decided on Josie. Our baby name book told us it derived from "Joseph" and we immediately thought of Joseph, from Genesis, who was sold into slavery, taken against his will to another land, falsely accused, imprisoned, forgotten, and yet he held tenaciously to God's promise for his life. He later said to his forgiven brothers, "What men intended for evil, God intended for good." What an inspiration for our daughter as she faces the injustices of her own life! Joseph means "God will increase" and a friend has told me Josie relates to increasing in wisdom.
Homecoming
