3,500 Chinese Babies Named “Olympics”
There has been a lot of crazy stuff going on in China in anticipation for the 2008 Olympics. None quite so strange as this story.
Nearly 3,500 children, since the year 2000, have been named after the 2008 Olympics.
3,500 were named “Aoyun”, meaning Olympics, in 2000 when the bid first came up to have the Olympics in China.
Additionally, more than 4,000 people have been named after the “Five Friendlies.” The Five Friendlies are 5 different animated characters that play in Chinese Olympics commercials.
The names are Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240), Huan Huan (1,063), Ying Ying (624) and Ni Ni (642). When put together, the phrase translates to “Beijing welcomes you!”
Five Friendlies Commercial:
(AP)
By Kimi Naitou on 05-11-2007
Comment by Dan
November 5th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I guess we can’t complain. People in the states name their kids after cars.
Comment by darkwing duck
November 5th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
it might be worst Some people get their kid name form wrestling!
like Dirk Frost
Comment by larry
November 6th, 2007 at 5:30 am
people here name their kids weird names like Mike Hunt
Comment by ronnie cute
November 6th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
A name is just a name! What matters is how you carry your name and protect it.
Comment by ABCD
November 7th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
can’t agree more! and those names sound cute after all
Comment by Ratty
November 7th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I was more taken by the commercial than the names, Awkward names have been around for along time, With younge little “4Real” and the 6 or so “God”’s in the world etc. :p
But that commercial.. As a professional example of what a whole country is doing for the olympics.. Wow :p
Comment by James Third
November 11th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I love it, they seem to reflect the chinese 5 classic elements…
Bei Bei = Water
Jing Jing = Wood
Huan Huan = Fire
Ying Ying = Earth
Ni Ni = Air
Comment by alyssa anselmi
November 13th, 2007 at 9:09 am
ekh. its not that weird. i wanna have 10 kids and name em reeeeeealy weird things. esp. japaneese names
Comment by Belinda
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I’m Chinese, so this is really cool. :] I heard the tickets to the Chinese Olympics 2008 were already sold out and I was like, “Wow.”
It must be a really big deal. I’ll probably be visiting Italy, but I’ll try watching it on TV. x]
My friend went to China and bought me these things to hang with the characters; Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, and Ni Ni. They’re so cute!
Comment by ShiRui
December 11th, 2007 at 5:46 am
I am not in China now,but I am chinese.When I read this news I was very happy.I was very prond that Olympic Games can held in China .The name of person always has the symbol.Using these names are very cool.I hope more and more people in the wold can know the development and the cultule of China.
Comment by Belinda
December 17th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Lol. I’m back! :]
I have a question. Does anyone know why Huanhuan is the biggest and was one the top when they did the “pyramid” thing? Lol.
Comment by :-)
December 18th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
i completely agree even though that person would have to live with that for the rest of there lifes. just think about that but she does make a good point.
Comment by nov0607
December 26th, 2007 at 10:28 am
I am chinese too and I believe if you survey on the people who were born during around 1945-1955, or during the cultural revolution, you will find a lot of people with names like “jianguo” (establishing the new country), “hongbing” (red soldier), “wenge” (cultural revolution), “aidang” (love the communist party), “aijun” (love the people’s liberation army”…. I am really not surprised that people are naming their babies olympics!
Comment by shiny
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I think that’s ’cause he symbolizes the olympic flame.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068254.shtml
Comment by luckylife333
May 12th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
My friend has the Jing Jing keychain 0_0
Comment by Petpal
August 18th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Actually ,
BeiBei symbols the fish, JingJing the panda, HuanHuan the olympic flame, YingYing the tibetan antelope, and NINi the swallow. And I think those names are cute!
Comment by Scott
September 1st, 2008 at 1:16 am
The little creatures themselves may look like that, but the characters names together do mean “Beijing welcomes you” Bei and Jing are obvious, Huan ying means welcome, and ni means you.
Comment by chingchangchong
September 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
phuck china… free tibet…