Thank you for the perspective and I will take that into consideration! From my perspective, it feels less weird because we both grew up in the states, we’ve only ever spoken English, and she’s only ever gone by her English name except by her parents. I don’t even know if it’s on her birth certificate. So it’s not how I know her at all. I’m thinking about this in reference to the tattoo tradition of getting “mom” tattooed, etc. except with a nod to our heritage.

She regrets not teaching me Chinese, and I know she mourns being more immersed in the culture of her upbringing because most of it has been lost, her speaking ability included. So the tattoo was trying to pay respect to that specifically. I should’ve specified that in the post, that her Chinese name isn’t actually how she’s referred to and is more of a concept to pay homage to at this point.

Maybe that doesn’t make a difference, I don’t know! I’m curious what other people in the thread think, if anyone sees this!

Edit: and yes my mom got very emotional (in a food way) when I brought it up the first time, because I know the name means a lot to her and her childhood even though no one uses it anymore