I've been thinking; how is it that there are so many Chinese guys out there named Alvin? It boggles the mind.
I know no less than 10 Alvins - in all their many permutations of the name. There is the original Alvin. And then there's Alwin and Alwyn. And Elvin, of course. I also know an Alvern. And perhaps the most unique of them all, Alwynt. (I swear I'm not making this up.)
Somewhere along the Chinese anthropology, we decided that good ol' Ah Fook, Ah Keong and Ah Beng are just not cool enough. And so Chinese parents went looking for cool name to tag onto their kids. And we probably got some of these names from the Bible (the Christian names, as we used to call them), and a whole lot from Hollywood and other popular culture.
Which brings us right back to the question, where in the world did Alvin come from? As far as I know, I never read about an Alvin in biblical times. If he did indeed exist, he sure as heck didn't do anything important enough to be mentioned. Which leaves us with pop culture. There are only two Alvins that I'm aware of. There's Alvin the chipmunk, and Alvin Stardust who sang one sappy hit song in the 80s.
Surely your parents didn't name you after a chipmunk, did they? And who listens to Alvin Stardust anyway?
So Alvin, can you ask your parents?
This is Elvin Ofcourse, in the book of Daniel, where the famous story of Daniel in the lion's den. Not many people know that Daniel had 3 very good friends name Hananiah, Mishael and Alviniah. These 4 friends were chosen for their intellect and beauty to be part of royal officials. Well Daniel was the star and was famous right from the start, however when bible schollars begun to study the life of Daniel in the early 60', it was made known that the true unsung heroes were Daniel's friends who interceeded for him whilst he was in the lion's den. The more contemporary Christians thereafter decided to adopt the names of Hannah, Michael and Alvin and these name became mainstream. So my parents was one of these more contemporary Christians. Hey I am actually shitting you. Will ask my parents the next time yeah.
ReplyDeleteHahahah! You had me going there! Alviniah... good grief.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Meaning someone has not been reading his Bible! Ann's husband is Alvin. you can check with her!
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