My MIL called a couple of days ago and unfortunately, I was napping so the hubs answered the phone. When I woke up, he informed me that our second son's Korean name was Hyung Ooh. Interesting.
I didn't like it or dislike it all that much... but it didn't roll off the tongue as much as I wanted it to. And I also wanted our second son's name to have at least one same syllable (why does that spelling look so wrong?) as our first son. First son's name is Jung Ho.
Since MIL lives in Korea and doesn't have much "say" in our day to day lives, I thought it'd be nice to have her name our children... their Korean names I mean. Hubs and I decided on the English names together without input from any grandparents.
Actually, it wasn't exactly her who gave our boys their Korean names. She went to a "place." I don't even know what it's called in Korean. When I translate to the hubs, I call it a wise man or a fortune teller. Anyway, she goes there and tells them the date and time of the birth... and I'm not sure what other information, and pays a certain fee and voila, the wise man names the kid.
We had a choice between two names for the first son but for some reason, the MIL didn't give us a choice for the second son.
A couple of days after that phone call, the MIL called again and told me that she actually didn't like the name that this particular wise man gave our son. She wanted to go to the dude that named our first son but he was ill and at the hospital so she had to go to someone else. And he named our boy Hyung Ooh. Then, she got a phone call that her first choice wise man was back from the hospital, so she went to him and he gave our son the name Jung Won. I like Jung Won much much better. For one, the first syllable rhymes with Jung Ho. Yay.
In the end, my MIL ended up paying $400 for the name. Yes, you read that right, a whopping $400. She paid $200 for the first dude, and then another $200 for the second due. I didn't say anything although I thought it was kind of a waste of money. I really don't believe in all the astrological Korean stuff. Whatever makes her happy right?
Any kimchi mamas out there "pay" for their kimchi kids' names??
-Mary
Since ya'll love pictures so much... a pic of Jung Ho doing ppo ppo lips:
