Yes, indeedy, it IS Chinese!

Well, I was pleased to discover, today, the wonderful name I have chosen for our mystery dream child in the future is Chinese. The mom of one our kids at preschool looked it up in her Chinese dictionary. It has the same meaning. She said that the first character has been simplified some, but she could still find it and it did mean, "pledge, promise, covenant or contract". However, the pronunciaton is different than the Japanese. They pronounce it "chi". The second character is still written the same. And it also means "presence" and is even pronounced the same as in Japanese. She said she hasn't normally seen it used for names. But, she said because of the high population in China they are always looking for different, unique characters to be used for names. So, she thought I had picked a great name. Besides, she said that "chirin" sounds like a kind of mythical Chinese animal in ancient folklore somewhat similar to a dragon. So, it has a nice Chinese ring to it. Now, we just have to wait for a child to fit the name. I'm sure God has one in mind.