The year of the pig is coming to an end and many couples have had their babies, as planned. In China, people believe a baby born this year will be lucky, prosperous and fertile.

I don't believe in this sort of thing. What I think is newborn babies cause problems for their poor parents in lots of ways - they keep them up all night, for instance, and they are expensive to clothe, feed and educate.

The first problem parents usually encounter, however, is what to call these "little golden pigs".

Recently, I have received a lot of requests from my friends to help name their babies. So much so that I am thinking of opening a child-naming business.

Naming a baby was much easier in the past. For instance, in the good old days it used to be that if a baby was born with a bruise on his or her butt he or she was simply called "black bottom".

In the early 1950s, thousands of Chinese people were called "Weiguo" (great country), or "Jianguo" (founding a country), or "Jianjun" (establishing an army) to celebrate the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

During the late 1960s, "Hong" (red), the color of the revolution, became a popular name for babies.

Nowadays, unusual names are fashionable, as parents want their child to be unique. Also, women don't want their surnames dropped and therefore add it to their husband's name.

As a result children's names seem to have got longer. Double-barreled names are no longer rare in China and I can't help thinking that one day Chinese people will have names as long as those of the Japanese.

Earlier this year, a Chongqing native tried to give his son a quadruple-barreled name - Ouyangchenggong Fenfatuqiang. It sounds like a revolutionary slogan and was given in the hope that his baby would work hard for prosperity. His request, however, was turned down by the local register office.

Another way to avoid the same name is to search the dictionary for something unusual.

Some parents haven't touched a dictionary since leaving school, but they pick them up again to find odd names for their babies. Of course, they are happy with their choice, but will it sound so good when the child has grown up a little and his or her teacher is calling out something odd in class? Won't there be jokes?

Besides dictionaries, the Internet has become popular among young parents for providing a lot more options, so they can choose a name like picking lottery numbers.

I feel sorry for my friends. In my eyes, success in life has more to do with working hard, ambition and determination, rather than a great name. A person with a common name might have a prosperous life, while an auspicious name can be a burden.

I urge my friends to take it easy, but they don't listen.

"When you have your own child, I bet you will change your mind," one of my friends told me.

We'll see.

(China Daily 11/21/2007 page20)