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About this Episode
“Our names are the stories we carry into the world.”
“名字，是我们带入世界的故事。”
My Chinese name is Li Zi-Jin (李姿锦), and my father said he personally chose it for me. Li is an extremely common surname—you can find people with the same family name everywhere in Taiwan. Yet, as a child, I felt different because of this name, since the great Tang dynasty poet Li Bai also carried the surname Li. That connection gave me an extra sense of pride and belonging. As for Zi (姿), my father chose this character because it contains both “second” (次) and “woman” (女), symbolizing that I am his second daughter. The last character, Jin (锦), is made up of “gold” (金) and “silk” (帛), representing his wishes for me to have a rich and beautiful life. As a little girl, I often felt that my name carried a mission—that my father’s hopes and expectations were all packed into those thirty-two brushstrokes.
我的中文名字是李姿锦，爸爸说这是他亲自为我取的。李是一个极其普遍的姓氏，在台湾到处都能遇到同姓的人。然而，小时候的我却因为唐代大诗人李白也姓李，而觉得自己与众不同。这样的联想，让我对这个姓氏多了一份骄傲与归属感。至于“姿”，爸爸选这个字，是因为它的结构里有“次”和“女”，象征我是他的第二个女儿。而“锦”由“金”与“帛”组成，代表他对我的期待——希望我能拥有富足而美好的生活。小时候的我常觉得，名字就像一个使命，爸爸的心愿和期待全都压在这三十二划里。
When I was in elementary school, my name became the subject of jokes among classmates. They loved to mimic the sound of “Li Zi Jin” saying it sounded like “ni zi ji” (“yourself” in Mandarin). Outwardly, I laughed along, but inside I felt embarrassed. What’s more, the last character of my name, Jin, was often misread as Mian (It means cotton in Chinese). Eventually, to avoid awkwardness, I let some teachers or strangers call me “Zi-Mian” instead. Looking back, those jokes were probably harmless, but they did plant a seed in me about the connection between names and identity.
小学时期，我的名字常成为同学的玩笑。他们喜欢模仿“李姿锦”的发音，说听起来像“你自己”。表面上我会跟着笑，心里却觉得尴尬。特别是名字最后一个字“锦”，常常被误读成“绵”。后来，为了避免尴尬，我干脆让一些老师或陌生人叫我“姿绵”。现在回头看，那些玩笑或许没有恶意，但确实让我开始思考名字与身份的关联。
In the fifth grade, I got my first nickname—“Spider.” Back then, it was trendy in class to change the last character of someone’s name to “Pig.”(猪） So Zi-Zhu (姿猪) became “Spider” (蜘蛛). My good friend Yashi even designed a spider logo for me: an oval with a smiling face, a bow on its head, and eight little legs. That time of my life was filled with pure joy. We always signed each other’s cards with this little spider, as if it was a secret code and a symbol of our friendship.
五年级时，我有了第一个绰号——“蜘蛛”。当时班上流行把名字最后一个字改成“猪”，于是“姿猪”就变成了“蜘蛛”。我的好友雅诗甚至帮我设计了一个蜘蛛签名：一个椭圆里画着笑脸，头上戴着蝴蝶结，还有八只脚。那段日子充满了单纯快乐，我们总会在彼此的卡片上画上这只小蜘蛛，就像是一种友情的暗号和象征。
After graduating from high school, I left my hometown of Kaohsiung and moved north to attend Fu Jen Catholic University. My entire social circle changed. I became obsessed with fashion and makeup, copying styles from the Japanese magazine Cawaii: heavy eyeliner, bleached blonde hair, and miniskirts to class. But my attempts made me the subject of ridicule for some Taipei classmates. They secretly gave me a nickname, “Xiao Baihe” (Little Lily), because they thought I looked like a hostess from a nightclub, and those who works at the nightclub always have a flower name. Still, I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I thought “Xiao Baihe” was beautiful, and I even enjoyed being called that. Looking back, that experience taught me to stop caring too much about others’ opinions and instead focus on my own preferences and self-expression.
高中毕业后，我从高雄北上到辅仁大学，生活圈完全改变。我开始迷上时尚与化妆，模仿日本杂志《Cawaii》的风格：浓浓的眼线、染成金色的头发、穿着迷你裙上课。但这些尝试却成了部分台北同学取笑的对象。他们私下给我取了个花名“小百合”，因为觉得我打扮得像酒店小姐——而酒店小姐总会用花名。尽管如此，我一点也不介意，反而觉得“小百合”很好听，甚至乐于被这样称呼。回头看，这段经历让我学会不再过度在意他人的眼光，而是专注于自己的喜好与表达。
My first English name was Josephine, chosen by my very first English teacher. But I quickly felt it was too long and changed it to Joyce. It wasn’t until I started teaching English myself that I finally decided on the name I still use today—Lily. I liked the simplicity and grace of “Lily,” which brings to mind the pure lily flower and also echoed my college nickname. Some students who knew my Chinese surname would sometimes call me “Lily Li,” but I didn’t like that combination—it felt too plain. After my engagement, I began using my fiancé’s surname, Wong, and became “Lily Wong.” Even after our divorce, I insisted on keeping this name. For me, it was not only a way to remember that love, but also a way to redefine my own identity.
我的第一个英文名字是 Josephine，这是我第一位英文老师帮我取的，但我很快嫌它太长，就改成了 Joyce。直到我开始教英文时，我才决定用现在这个名字——Lily。我喜欢“Lily”的简洁与优雅，让人联想到纯洁的百合花，也与我的大学绰号呼应。有些学生知道我的中文姓氏，会叫我“Lily Li”，但我不喜欢这个组合，觉得太普通。订婚后，我开始使用未婚夫的姓氏“Wong”，成了“Lily Wong”。即使离婚之后，我仍然坚持保留这个名字，因为它不仅是对那段爱情的纪念，更是我对自我身份的重新定义。
Nowadays, almost no one calls me by my Chinese name anymore. As I’ve traveled the world, a few friends have tried to learn it, but pronunciation has always been a challenge. So they prefer to call me Lily—simple, convenient, and making our interactions much easier.
如今，几乎没有人再叫我的中文名字了。随着我走遍世界，虽然有些朋友尝试学会它，但发音始终是一个挑战。所以他们更习惯叫我 Lily——简单、方便，也让交流更轻松。
Today, my name has become part of my personal brand, Fly with Lily. From “Li Zi-Jin” to “Lily Wong,” each version of my name reflects a stage of growth and transformation. I’ve come to see that a name is not only a label but also a vessel of stories, carrying the ways we draw strength from the past and choose to live authentically in the present. In the future, whether my name changes again or not, I hope it will continue to convey my values: love, gratitude, freedom, exploration, and abundance.
如今，我的名字已经成为我个人品牌 Fly with Lily 的一部分。从“李姿锦”到“Lily Wong”，名字的每一个阶段都反映了我的成长与转变。我发现，名字不仅是符号，更是承载故事的容器，见证我们如何从过去汲取力量，并选择真实地活在当下。未来，无论名字是否再改变，我都希望它能继续传递我的价值观：爱、感恩、自由、探索与丰盛。
我的网站是flywithlily.com
