Can I mix and match the characters from the names you have provided to come up with a new set of name?

No. Please refrain from doing since this can result in inauspicious character stroke numbers being formed by the new arrangements of the Chinese characters. There is a Chinese saying: “牵一发而动全身”, a minor change will actually affect the entire name.

Can I provide a list of Chinese names I came up with and get Master Chua to check which ones are the most auspicious?

We would discourage that. The reason being we have had experience doing this in the past but realised that more than 90% of the time, the names provided by the parents were not usable at all (failed many of the stringent criteria we follow). Thus, the entire process was time-consuming but not helpful.

Is the baby’s Bazi (八字) a requirement to engage your naming service?

Yes, we will need your baby’s date and time of birth in order to compute the Bazi. Finding a name with favourable elements to the baby’s Bazi is the most important step. A name may be auspicious based on its character strokes 五格 but it must also match the Bazi in order for the baby to benefit from it.

What are some mistakes that parents should avoid when naming a baby?

Parents who have more than one child tend to use a single Chinese character across all the children’s names. For example, if 3 daughters, then Xiu Yun (秀云), Xiu Li (秀丽), Xiu Ping (秀莲). So the character 秀Xiu has been repeated even though it may be beneficial to only one of them. This is not encouraged because each child’s Bazi is unique and has different favorable elements individually. Remember, “One man’s dessert is another man’s poison”. Each child’s name should be personalized according to his/her Bazi.
Another thing we discourage is the use of very uncommon Chinese characters for names. It is impractical since most people end up not knowing how to read the name and thus defeat the purpose of a good name.

Why are the five elements of the Chinese characters you used different from other masters?

For some masters, the element of a Chinese character is derived from its number of strokes (笔画). According to the last digit of the stroke numbers, they follow the table below to assign the element.
For example, the character 炎 has 8 strokes, thus its element is Yin Metal (辛金) according to this table. But we do not follow this since it is obvious this character 炎 is a strong Fire (made of two fire 火 stack on top of one another).
We use an older method of which the element is based on the structure and meaning of the character itself. This method allows us to identify characters that better embodies the energy of the element.

Why are the number of strokes for the Chinese characters in your report different from what I have counted?

Based on the Kangxi dictionary 康熙字典, there is a set of rules which dictate how some characters are calculated in terms of the strokes. You may encounter differences due to this reason. The Kangxi dictionary is the standard reference used by most experts of Chinese name selection, including us. Thus, you can safely follow the number of strokes indicated in our report.

Why are the five elements of the Chinese characters you used different from the online Kangxi dictionary 康熙字典?

In the various Kangxi dictionaries available online, you will notice that they do indicate the elements of every Chinese character. This element can differ from the one in our report. Why? The fact is that no one knows the source of which the online dictionaries derived their elements from. The original version of the Kangxi dictionary does not indicate the elements of the Chinese characters at all.

Do you provide service for selection of auspicious English names?

No, we do not provide this service. However, if you are our client and have already shortlisted some English names, Master Chua can help you to pick the one that is most suitable. He uses a different system, which is based on the pronunciations/sounds to identify the one that is most suited for the baby. This is free of charge for our clients.