Quote
06clarkb
....to shed some light on what the correct phonetic spelling might actually be. So to repeat:
(Incorrect) phonetic spelling: Joiwan
Rough meaning (I think): Fluffy cloud
Here's some light:
First, even though the phonetic spelling may be incorrect, it has enough credibility to allow me to know that there're two Chinese characters, with similar pronunciation to [Joi] and [Wan] respectively, as basically, one vowel for each Chinese character, and each Chinese character has its unique pronunciation.
Second, adj. before noun is true in Chinese.
So, let's establish that
1. Your middle name contains two Chinese characters
2. [Joi-] = the first word of [fluffy] meaning, [-wan] = the second word of [cloud] meaning.
For the first Chinese word, there're too many Chinese characters containing the meaning of fluffy. Unfortunately, I can't think of any word with the meaning of fluffy that also has a similar phonetics to [Joi] (The closest I can think of is 絨/茸 but still quite far-fetched and I don't recommend)....I suggest you to provide more clarification and to describe more about your cloud. If it's also colorful, then I agree with 彩 or 采(which I find more meaningful) . And it's pronounced [Choi] which is close to [Joi].
For the second word, it surely is 云/雲 as mentioned above, because it matches both the meaning of [cloud] and the English phonetics.
If I may, I'd suggest 在云(雲), Zoi-wan in Jyutping (Cantonese phonetics) which is similar to or even the same as Joiwan in English phonetics. It's not that sophisticated. A little bit deduction from your grandfather education background. It literally means at/on the cloud. I don't think your grandfather is a complicated person...well from my experience with mine. But I think it's quite classy and I believe that sometimes less is more.
{Cloud is too soft to live on, but.... }
And I believe you can find the wisdom behind and define your own meaning of being on the cloud :)
Btw, do you have a Chinese last name? Because the meaning would be more elaborate when seeing the whole name altogether.
PS. 云 is the original word of 雲.
The timeline:
Origin: 云
Modified: 雲
Reverted(Simplied): 云
See the article below for more:
[jonathanovsky.wordpress.com]