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It has been raining for the whole day. At dusk, the rain stops and the sun comes out of the cloud. The sky is painted with a soft color of a mixture of red and orange which looks very beautiful. With the sweet and fresh air, you feel extremely comfortable both physically and mentally.

There is a Chinese word '晚晴' for this scene, and I used it to name my daughter. So if an English name should be given to her, is there a word with the same meaning or some relation with the Chinese word in some aspect, which is also suitable for a name or doesn't sound very strange at least?

Update
It seems that there is no such word in English. Then it will also be appreciated if there is a word whose end pronunciation is the same as ring or sing - that's how the second character of the Chinese name sound like, and has some good meaning and could be used as a nickname!

Update Again: Reply to @Meghan
Thanks for your reply! I realized from this thread that it not so easy to choose an English name with the ideas I used choosing her Chinese name. So we just use 'Ella' as her English name selected by my wife. But after checking the exact meaning of it when I trying to write this reply to you, I found it's the very right one as I expected before, especially of this sentence "the Good, is all she vows to become and to do." :)

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    Alas, I fear you're asking too much from a plodding Germanic language. Frank Zappa, the musician, named his daughter Moon Unit, so that's taken.
    – deadrat
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 4:55
  • 1
    Someone has written a song entitled vanilla twilight and Google images produced this for twilight sunset
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 6:27
  • The only girl's name that I can come up with is Amber, but it's related to the gem and the colour.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 6:37
  • If you gave us the pin yin for your daughter's name we might find a English name that would sound like it. Isn't that how Chinese people give Europeans Chinese names?
    – BoldBen
    Commented Sep 24, 2016 at 6:34
  • @BoldBen Yes it is. The pin yin for her Chinese first name is Wan Qing! :)
    – lfree
    Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 3:57

5 Answers 5

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How great that there's a woman's name describing all of that in Chinese.

There's no specific name like that in English. The time of day you are describing is, of course, evening, so maybe the name Eve is related to the concept you want. Eve has meaning in Judaism and Christianity; Eve (picture possibly NSFW) was the first woman.

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  • '晚' is the time, '晴' is the state of the weather, so all the description is just imagination, but directly related. :)
    – lfree
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 2:45
  • I looked up Evening on a baby name website and it has been used but very rarely. According to the website there are only 16 women and girls called Evening in the US so it might sound a bit odd to English speakers. The OP, however, said s/he would be happy with a nickname and did want it to end in _ing, so Evening might be appropriate.
    – BoldBen
    Commented Sep 24, 2016 at 6:50
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I think the OP asks a delightful question and I have been searching for an English word without success. Somehow naming someone "Sunset", "Dusk" or "Twilight" doesn't quite have the ring of Dawn, a common girl's name that reflects the start of the day and a breaking dawn. An then there's "Sundowner", a cooling soft or light alcoholic drink imbibed at that lovely time of the day when the sun goes down and you can relax with a drink and good conversation. No, Sundowner as a girl's name will not do her justice.

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  • Also the name of a very unpleasant syndrome. I'd avoid it.
    – deadrat
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 4:53
  • In India, a word that means dusk, "Sandhya" is a far more popular name for girls than any word that connotes dawn or sunrise.
    – Logophile
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 6:17
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English doesn't have a word for it -- as far as I know.

A common phrase for it however is: The calm after the storm

The reason for the soft color of red and orange however, has to do with the aforementioned rain and time of day.

National Geographic calls it "Red Sky at Night" -- (a light-read about the science of this topic.)

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  • 'The calm after the storm' sounds a little different which emphasizes on calm, while what I want to concentrate here is the beauty and the comfort it bring to us... :(
    – lfree
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 2:49
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Beautiful that Chinese has a word for that.

Gloaming is an English word that means twilight or dusk.

Here is what the ODO says:

literary

Twilight; dusk.

‘hundreds of lights are already shimmering in the gloaming’

It sort of rhymes with your daughter's name in Chinese and has a positive connotation (most people who know the word would think of something like this, this or this when they hear it), but it is not common as a name for girls. Perhaps you can start a trend that would make it common :).

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    "gloaming" sounds like a cross between "gloomy" and "moaning" to me. Not exactly things you'd like for a name.
    – AndyT
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 9:55
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it's sunshine after the rain which means easiness after difficulties. which is probably a definition for freedom. And according to a google search The top names meaning free are Charles and Francis and their many variations, including Charlotte, Charlie, Francesca and Frankie. I realize you asked this 4 years ago though. What did you name her?

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    Welcome to EL&U. I'm not sure I follow the "probably." Please take a moment to tour the site and read the FAQ, and thanks.
    – livresque
    Commented Sep 28, 2020 at 0:46
  • @Meghan Thanks for your reply! I realized from this thread that it not so easy to choose an English name with the ideas I used choosing her Chinese name. So we just use 'Ella' as her English name selected by my wife. But after checking the exact meaning of it when I trying to write this reply to you, I found it's the very right one as I expected before, especially of this sentence "the Good, is all she vows to become and to do." :)
    – lfree
    Commented Oct 10, 2020 at 9:59

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