New names reflect social progress

LHASA: Like many Tibetans, 30-year-old Zhoigar has given her baby girl a name that means happiness and longevity.

But unlike the elder generation of Tibetan parents, Zhoigar has chosen Chinese characters that both reflect the sound of the Tibetan name and have real meanings in Mandarin, which in this case are equivalent to the concepts of kindness and beauty.

"My daughter's name is pronounced as Cedain De'gyi. I've chosen the Chinese characters Ci, for kindness, and Dan, which means peony," she said.