What's in a name? In China, sometimes, there's social meaning.

Average citizens are reflecting current themes in their newborns' names, a recent survey of Chinese names finds.

For example, 23 people surnamed He gave their children the name Xie: together, the characters mean "harmony." Another 144 people with various surnames gave children the name He Xie separately as a given name. A given name in China can be one or more characters.

The statistics were quoted from the Ministry of Public Security (MOPS) by China News Service on Monday, which said that 70 percent of the 144 names were given after the concept of "building a harmonious society" was put forward.

The hot issues during the annual sessions of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) and the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have also become popular with ordinary Chinese when giving names.

The survey showed that 2,133 names include the phrase "She Bao"(social security), while another 2,041 mention "Jiao Yu" (education), 411 "Min Yi"(public opinion) and 147 "Ze Ren" (responsibility).

Also, 6,623 Chinese have a name that includes the phrase "Min Zhu"(democracy).

Another 3,500 people bear the names of "Ao Yun" (Olympics) and 1,917 Chinese have names using "Fu Wa" (the Olympics mascot), according to the statistics.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2008)