Guuye ~ Гүүеэ

Guuye is my name. It was my first ever name which I was addressed to as a baby. However, my official name is not Guuye. Why? It’s a lovely story.

When I was born my parents were very happy as I was the first grandchild in both families. My parents didn’t have a name for me when I was born. It was normal not to have a name for a newborn baby then. My parents were in their early 20’s and just married a year earlier. A few days later my parents made a phone call to my ‘tall’ grandfather (my parents called my dad’s dad tall and mum’s dad short to distinguish between them as in Mongolia both would become ‘dad’ for them.) My parents wanted me to be named by a local lama who had a good reputation. They couldn’t go and see the lama themselves as they had moved to a different village a few months earlier.

The day my grandfather was supposed to call back arrived. My dad went to the Registry office and waited for the phone call. He waited and waited till the registry office closed. He couldn’t wait any longer and wanted to have my birth certificate. So he named me himself ‘Uuganbayar’ meaning ‘first happiness/joy.’

Just as he came out of the registry office holding my birth certificate my grandfather called. The lama said I was to be named Gursedmaa. So my parents made it shorter and called me Guuye. It’s a Tibetan name and I’m trying to find out exactly what it means. So I will be letting you know with my findings. Just now, I hear someone is calling me Guuye. It’s my husband. He had made me some tea. My favourite drink at the moment. I will be writing more interesting posts. Keep checking. Thanks for visiting.