ALL ABOUT OLIVE
“why did your parents name you Olive?”
“is that your real name?”
“Olive? as in martini, Popeye, olive oil?”
i get these comments a lot so i thought i’d do a little write-up on why my parents named me after a fruit.
Psalm 52:8
this is the verse my parents based both my english and chinese names on. the biblical origin of my english name is pretty obvious but there were also secondary influences. the street we lived on when i was born was Olive Ave. in North York. we also knew a couple who were close friends of our family and the wife’s name was Olive. i grew up calling her grandma Olive.
my chinese name is more interesting, i think. the first character is “yee”, meaning to trust or lean on. the second character is “tzee”, meaning deep love of God. so just as the verse says, i am to be like an olive tree who leans on God’s unfailing love.
having a name that is so rich has been very helpful to me. it’s my constant reminder of where i should draw my strength from. i only hope that i can give my kids names that are as meaningful!
on a side note, “Lam” in chinese means forest. so if you stretch the translation a little, my name could very well be “olive tree”!
and since i know you’re probably wondering, yes, i do eat olives. i don’t like green ones but black ones — yum!