What's in a Name?

To answer the above question: A lot! Research has shown that by 4 1/2 months of age infants prefer to listen to their own name over another name. By 5 months, a baby's ability to recognize their own name from a longer stream of speech is one of the first steps to cognitive and linguistic development. If you listen to the video we were sent you will hear that caretakers are already familiarizing our daughter with her name (Fan Pei-Jung) by using it repeatedly when talking to her. (You can also hear them say Pei-Jung Li, which means beautiful Pei-Jung as well as words that sound like "chee chung lou" which means something like "time to wake up")~she must have just woken up from a little nap.

Soon our sweet baby girl will be whisked away from all the familiar sights, smells and sounds that have been her world for the first several months of her young life. We are so thrilled to celebrate our child's birth culture and heritage by incorporating her beautiful given name into her full name of Kathryn Pei Jung Sullivan (Kate)! Speaking of name meanings: the name Kathryne means "pure" and the name Pei Jung has a double meaning according to my cyber-friend Eva and her parents who live in Taiwan (Thank you SO much!). It means "an abundant life" as well as "very tolerant". Isn't that lovely? Sounds perfect to us. We hope, Kathryn Pei Jung, you will love your name as much as we do!

We can't wait to meet you baby girl!! We love you and miss you already! Much love from your mommy, daddy and big brothers.