Lulu/Leilei

Lulu already has an exceedingly long name: Eleanor Grace XiLe Tripp Spy, plus the most complicated naming history of anyone in our family. First we called her Lele (like the French article, doubled), then we changed to Lulu (which we found adorable), now she wishes to be called Leilei (like the Hawaiian flower garland)!

Ever since her reunion visit with XingXing (who called her Leilei) Lulu/Leilei has insisted on being called what apparently was her actual nickname in China. "This-a not-a Lulu", she says, pointing at herself. "This-a Leilei." She says Leilei slowly, and emphatically, as if to a very slow learner (me, her mom. Who does, in fact, tend to be a slow learner.)

So what's in a name, anyway? Shakespeare says a rose would be a rose no matter what . . . but Anne of Green Gables said something else, something like a rose would NOT be as lovely if it were called a skunk cabbage . . . I shall have to look it up, but that's the sense of it, and I am on Anne's wavelength all the way.

Lulu's (hence, I shall refer to her in writing as Lulu, but probably as Leilei in life, until I can convince her otherwise!) names have enormous significance to me, and, apparently, to her. Her Chinese name, XiLe, means "hoping for happiness". It is such a lovely name that I regret that I didn't keep it as her first name. And Leilei, I think, represents identity to Lulu. It is what she calls herself, what the first people who loved and cared for her called her. It is her only treasure, what she brought with her from China.

I thought after the fact that I should never have given Lulu another name. "Eleanor" was a hotly contested choice, and was basically the only name I liked that the rest of the family tolerated. It means, I think, "shining light", and my girl Lulu is all about the energy of a sunbean, or a flash of lightning. It also happens to be the name of a powerful queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, a woman I wouldn't mind my daughter emulating in some respects! So my name for her is important, too; my way of claiming her for my own, and a way of wishing her a certain kind of future.

Then, "Grace". That's after my mom, of course, whose middle name it was. Kit has her first name, "Rose" as a middle name. Libby's middle name is "Audrey", after my beloved aunt. So these names are important--handles the girls can grab hold of, to keep them steady, and remind them of strong women who went before them, and, as my mom wrote to me, will love them "from wherever I am"!

All the kids got stuck with "Tripp" as one of their middle names. Again, an act of claiming. I'm the only one in the family with a different last name, and I like to be linked with them that way.

"Lulu"--well, it's a nickname, and like my old nickname, Skyppi, it may have served its purpose. I can't give it up too easily, though--I had it printed, at great expense, on all the adoption announcments! And it suits her so well! Maybe someday she will agree . . .
For now, her name is Eleanor XiLe, and she calls herself Leilei, but everyone knows her as Lulu.

Anyone who wants to help me find the Anne Shirley quote can check online:
www.literature.org/authors/montgomery-lucy-maud/anne-of-green-gables
(I think) (my links don't always link! where is kevo when I need help???!!!!)