Shaling's Name Explained

Several people have asked me why Shaling was referred to as "Long Sha Ling" in the responses to our questions. First, Long is her surname. Most of the orphans within her welfare district (Long Gang Welfare District) have been given that surname, as it is a common practice to give them a last name that matches the area in which they are found. It appears first because in China, they say the names in that order. For example, I would be Reynolds Amy.

Next, her Chinese name is Sha Ling. It is actually two Chinese characters (a character is not the same as an American letter, but more like an actual word), but I've been told it's not exactly the same as having a first name and a middle name, because the name is changed entirely if the two characters aren't used together. Although we are retaining her Chinese name, we are dropping the space between the two words and making the L lowercase. This is more of an Americanized spelling and will allow us to give her the middle name Annabelle without making her have two middle names.

Sha (which is pronounced like “shah”, not “shay”) means sand and Ling means chime or bell. So, Shaling means sand chime. Her surname, Long, means dragon. I’ve asked my sister-in-law, Tanya, to make me a wall hanging of the Chinese characters for Sha Ling. I’m including a picture of them below.

Sha Ling


Long Sha Ling