Ranya
Rǎn Yě
然野
"Yammy"
Yu
The story behind our daughter's name
Project Timeline
Gathering Requirements
What's in a name?
Nadia's requirements vs Sherwin's requirements
Scoping and planning
Codename "Project Yammy"
Panic
Delivery
Panic, part 2
Marketing moment
Phase 1: Gathering Requirements
Nadia's requirements were straightforward
…whereas Sherwin's were not…
Phase 1: Gathering Requirements
Sherwin's Requirements Framework
A Comprehensive Naming Methodology
P0: Critical Requirements
Deep personal connection and meaning
Rare or unusual name (not in top 1,000 US)
P1: High Priority
Weave in some aspect of Sherwin's Zen practice / spiritual tradition
Include aspects of climbing, mountains, nature
Reference dual Chinese and Indonesian heritage
Include values and qualities that we'd hope to impart to our daughter
Have some connection between Chinese name and English name
Have a Chinese name derived from a poem, classic text, or 成语
Option to have a nickname
P2: Nice to have
Not fit into the "two syllable girl-name ending in -a or -ia" trend
Name that starts near beginning of alphabet
Chinese name has phonetic translation to English name
Reference baby's development codename (Yammy)
Chinese initials look cool (e.g. Sherwin is YXY and Glenna is YXZ)
Name is gender neutral
Fast forwarding a few months…
Gathering Requirements
What's in a name?
Nadia's requirements vs Sherwin's requirements
Scoping and planning
Multiple spreadsheets, point allocation exercises, conversations AIs and parents, deep etymology rabbit holes
Codename "Project Yammy"
Sherwin has a dream that Nadia wants to name the baby after a yam; the codename sticks
Panic
Realize we spent the last 6 months calling her Yammy and the comes in baby comes two weeks, and our "shortlist" has 15 names on it
Delivery
Original estimate: Oct 7 2025
Actual ship date: Oct 11 2025
4 days late
Panic, part 2
Scrambling to come up with a name before they kicked us out of the hospital
Marketing moment
Finally got around to making this Gamma!
Phase 7: Marketing moment
Introducing…
Arden
Ranya 然野
"Yammy" Yu
First name: Arden
The hedge:
if Ms. Cho becomes deeply unpopular, we also have a
middle name
Middle name: Ranya
Chinese name: 然野 Rǎnyě
Phonetic analog to Ranya
然 rǎn
"Thus," "so," "like that" — expresses a state of being so, in such a way, or correctness / naturalness.
Captures a sense of things arising inherently, without force
Strong Taoist and Zen connotations of "effortless effort", "natural order"
野 yě
literally, wild, untamed, suggesting the primordial vitality of a free spirit, with a strong connection to the natural world
But wait, there's more!
Secondary latent aspects
Semantic and phonetic threads weave the names together
Arden
Burning passion
- Phonetic adjacency: Arden ⇛ Ardent (enthusiastic, passionate) has the etymology Latin ardere, 'to burn'
- 然 rǎn is a homophone to 燃 (fire radical 火 added to the side) means meaning "to burn, to ignite"
- Sits in contrast with the original name: 然 is natural arising, 燃 is active transformation
- Suggests intensity, energy, passion
Ranya
Forest and nature
Phonetic adjacency: Ranya ⇛ Aranya (forest in Sanskrit)
Arden is long associated with forests
- Arduenna Silva "high forest" in ancient Celtic
- Forest of Arden of Shakespeare's As You Like It
- Ardennes region in Belgium / France
然野 Rǎnyě
Overcoming the arduous
- 2nd character, 野 can mean "rough" in addition to "wild" and "untamed"
- Arden derives from "arduus", steep, challenging, arduous
Masculine / gen overtones
- 野 (wild) imparts a masculine feel to the name in Chinese
- Arden is traditionally a male given name
Taken individually,
each latent aspect represents
aspirations and values
we hope to impart
But wait, there's STILL more!
Taken together,
three latent aspects point
野
to an even deeper
hidden meaning
野
yě (wild) is the key
野 references "Grass on the Ancient Plain", a classic Chinese poem by Bai Juyi
野火烧不尽，春风吹又生。
Prairie wildfires burn endlessly
yet spring winds bring [the grass] new life.
On the surface, Bai Juyi penned a poem about the cycle of grass and its wondrous vitality: withering and flourishing year after year, always regrowing after wildfires
The second couplet, shown above, is synonymous with resilience in Chinese culture
An inauspicious name?
The subject of the poem's resilience is the grass; on the other hand the character from our name, 野 (wild), refers to the the adversity: the wildfires.
Seemingly an inauspicious name indeed!
But taken in context of the whole name, 然 suggests a naturalness, ease, and serenity with which to meet the adversity of 野
"I am the fire, and I am the forest."
A Zen teaching emerges:
We are not separate from our perceived obstacles.
In choosing this name, we hope Arden will embrace life's challenges not as external forces to overcome, but as integral parts of her growth—meeting adversity with the natural grace of 然 and the wild vitality of 野
Appendix 1: Architecture Diagram
Appendix 2: Namesakes
Arden @ Arden
Yammy + Yam
Appendix 3: Why is our codename Yammy?
Nadia likes yams
Sherwin dreamt that Nadia wanted to name baby after yam
Thus, Yammy
Appendix 4: The story behind the poem
An aside about Bai Juyi's Farewell on the Ancient Plain
離離原上草 (lí lí yuán shàng cǎo) Lush and thick, grass on the ancient plain
一歲一枯榮 (yī suì yī kū róng) One year withering, one year flourishing
野火燒不盡 (yě huǒ shāo bù jìn) Wildfire burns but cannot exhaust it
春風吹又生 (chūn fēng chuī yòu shēng) Spring wind blows and it lives again
遠芳侵古道 (yuǎn fāng qīn gǔ dào) Distant fragrance encroaches on the ancient road
晴翠接荒城 (qíng cuì jiē huāng chéng) Its emerald green overruns the ruined city
又送王孫去 (yòu sòng wáng sūn qù) Again I bid farewell to my dear friend
萋萋滿別情 (qī qī mǎn bié qíng) I find I'm crowded full of parting's feelings.
The poem's tone is contemplative and tinged with sadness as the speaker reflects on the departure of a noble friend. The grass's ability to regenerate despite adversity serves as a symbolic reminder of the enduring strength and adaptability of life.
Bai Juyi was 16 when he wrote this poem, which he submitted to a scholar's exam. The exam had a fixed topic: Grass.
So on the surface, the poem is about grass:
- Lines 1-4: grass in nature
- Lines 5-6: grass interacting with human society.
But then he drops Line 7-8: surprise this poem is actually about impermanence and the human condition
Appendix 5: More photos
Appendix 6: Nine month retrospective
Baby claw machine smoke test
The soothing sounds of pickleball
Attempting to eat Devin
Actually eating apricot
Peak cheeks reached at 6 months, it's been downhill ever since
Crag lunch with mommy
Belaying daddy
Baby claw machine success state
Arden