For any parent, coming up with the perfect name for their baby is an immense decision. After all, the combination of letters making up that name and the sound that comes from it form part of that child's identity for the rest of his/her life. Many expecting-parents spend weeks... sometimes months... searching for a few suitable options, while others simply stumble on the perfect fit without even really looking for it. Some parents choose names which symbolize something or someone both of them admire or aspire for their kids to one day become, while others simply choose names which have been part of their respective family-tree for many generations. Some decide to go against the current and choose names that are really out-there... like seriously... seriously out-there... but to each their own. Who am I to judge them anyway?
All I know is that choosing a name for the beautiful lady that recently joined our family took a lot longer than the mere 10 minutes it took us to decide her brother’s... (See Kai: The Power Within its Three Letters). Suffice to say that we came up with a few beautiful options, but in the end... settled for the name "Hikari" (Pronounced: Ji-ka-ri). That of course, was the easy part... choosing the proper combination of Kanji (Chinese characters used within the Japanese writing systems)... not so much.
As we did with 海, we wanted to choose a Kanji which not only holds a lot of depth in meaning, but is also effortless and elegant at the same time. For anyone who is uninitiated in the Japanese language, the main thing to understand is that there are several ways in which a single name can be written. In essence, a name can be written in one of the three writing scripts that form part of the Japanese language: Kanji (chinese characters), hiragana (ひらがな), or katakana (カタカナ). Furthermore, depending on the characters that are chosen, although the pronunciation may be the same between various possible combinations of the same name, the meaning invariably differs respectively. Lastly, depending on the name, the number of Kanji that make it up can also vary between 1, 2, 3 or more! It all comes down to two things: i) the ease/difficulty desired for it to be read/pronounced properly, and ii) the meaning behind it (among other things).
Hopefully that was clear enough, though in reality it’s a lot more complicated subject than what I'm making it seem... In any case, as far as the name “Hikari” is concerned, we decided to choose two Kanji:
光 & 璃
Put simply:
The character 光 means ray or light.
The character 璃 means glassy or Lapis lazuli.
Thus, in essence:
=
glassy blue stone of light (Lapis lazuli)
As it turned out, the character 璃 (the ‘ri’ sound in Hikari) took the longest to come up with. In fact, we hadn’t settled on it until a few days after her birth (given she decided to make an appearance 4 days earlier than expected...)! From what I gather, this particular kanji does not form part of the 2,500 most used kanji in newspapers; therefore, making it a lot more interesting and unique. Thus in the end, I was so glad that my wife and I unanimously agreed that 璃 was the perfect choice.
Personally, I don’t think we could have found anything more fitting for Hikari. For starters, I have always loved stones/rocks. I’ve collected them since I was a kid, and my current collection has a rock from virtually every country and city I have ever visited. Their timelessness and uniqueness have always astounded me, and this holds particularly true for the beautiful Lapis lazuli.
A stone which in spite of not being considered a "precious" (expensive) stone, it happens to be one of the most sought after semi-precious stones in use since ancient times. More importantly though, its beautiful deep royal blue colour scattered with gold (pyrite) flecks (or "rays of light") resembles the sea (a.k.a. her brother’s name). Further, regardless of whether you believe in such things or not, the Lapis lazuli stone has for centuries been regarded as a symbol of wisdom and truth in many cultures around the world. Thus, given how much just one of my kids has taught me about life and love in the short time we’ve spent together thus far, I remain certain that this new lady has come just in time to deliver a few new lessons of her own.
As Peter H. Reynolds wrote to remind us on April 15th, 2013 (光璃’s birthday):
There is more good
than bad in this world,
More light than
darkness, and
YOU can make more light.
- Peter H. Reynolds
