We would like to announce that our son will be named:
Selwyn Seun Him Leong
In Chinese, it is:
梁信謙
Some pronunciations:
- Cantonese: Leung4 Seun3 Him1
- Putonghua/Mandarin: Liang2 Xin4 Qian1
- Malysian/Hokkien: Leong Sing Chien
In Bible times and also in many cultures today, names carry important meaning. Perhaps most of all, it speaks of prophetically giving a baby some encouraging guidance towards the sort of person they will grow up to be. For us, we want his name to glorify God and to remind us of what God means to us.
Why Selwyn?
Selwyn is a name with many origins and meanings:
- from Latin & Old English origins we have “house friend” or “personal friend”
- from English origins we have “good friend”
- from Anglo-Saxon origins we have “friend at court” or “advocate”
- from Welsh origins we have “ardour” (great enthusiasm and passion) and “fair” (honest, trustworthy)
We chose this name because all of these meanings apply to God:
- God our Father, although He is powerful and almighty, He is also our personal friend. He cares about our lives and we are significant to Him. His word is Truth.
- God the Son, Jesus Christ, is our Good Friend.
- God the Holy Spirit, is our advocate. When we pray, the Holy Spirit advocates on our behalf. We have direct communication to God.
Our prayer for Selwyn is that he will be a man after God’s heart. He will be a good friend to many and that God will bless him with many good friends. We pray that Selwyn will be a man who speaks honestly and can be trusted and a man who is enthusiastic and passionate about his purpose in life. He will be a man that will be of great influence in his generation.
Why 信謙?
The two Chinese names come from 信仰 (which means faith) and 謙卑 (which means humble).
We believe God is always faithful to us and when Father God sent His Son Jesus, it was the true act of humbleness. Faithfulness and humbleness should be our attitude towards God and towards the people around us. We chose these words because Selwyn will remind us to model these attitudes and our prayer is for him to always follow God faithfully and humbly.
These two words also come from the following Bible passage (faithfulness is implied but not written in the Chinese version):
So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace. Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. “As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will always rule over Israel.’ – 2 Chronicles 7:11-18 (NLT, emphasis added)
所羅門 建完了耶和華的殿和王宮；在耶和華的殿和王宮的工程上，凡他心中所要做的，都順利做成了。 夜間耶和華向 所羅門 顯現，對他說：「我已聽了你的禱告，也選擇這地方歸我作獻祭的殿宇。 我若使天閉塞不下雨，或使蝗蟲吃這地的出產，或降瘟疫在我子民中， 這稱為我名下的子民，若是謙卑自己，禱告，尋求我的面，轉離他們的惡行，我必從天上垂聽，赦免他們的罪，醫治他們的地。 我必睜眼看，側耳聽在此處所獻的禱告。 現在我已選擇這殿，分別為聖，使我的名永在其中；我的眼、我的心也必時常在那裏。 你若行在我面前，效法你父 大衛 所行的，遵行我一切所吩咐你的，謹守我的律例典章， 我就必堅固你國度的王位，正如我與你父 大衛 所立的約，說：『你的子孫必不斷有人治理 以色列 。』- 2 歷代誌下 711-18 (RCUV)
This passage refers to the time when King Solomon dedicated the temple for the Lord and the Lord’s reply is that if we are humble, pray to Him, turn from sin and faithfully follow, we and the future generations will be blessed.
We pray that Selwyn’s name will be a reminder for all of us to do this and that he will lead his generation towards much of God’s blessings.
We appreciate your love, support and prayers for baby Selwyn! 🙂
SGS 
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