Dalai

Things We Love About Our Baby’s Name

Dalai means “Ocean of Wisdom” in Mongolian

He crossed the ocean twice to Mongolia and back before he was born

His dad crossed the ocean to find his mom ten years before he was born

His name is connected to water, like Tunga’s full name Ariuntungalag means “clear and pure” in Mongolian
& Travis’s last name Hellstrom means “clear calm water” in Swedish

The name is connected to the Dalai Lama, which was a Mongolian title given to the Dalai Lamas in 1574

When we talked about the name before he was born, he got more excited than he ever had before

A Little Story

Here’s a little more about how we chose a name for our baby.

On walks and drives and sitting together as our baby kicked in Tunga’s tummy, we talked for months about a name. We wanted a name that celebrated our multi-ethnic and multi-cultural family, a name that worked in both the Mongolian and English language, a name that had deep meaning, a name that was easily spelled and pronounced, and a name that matched his personality when we got to see him in person after his birth. We tried and kidded together about dozens of possible names, but started worrying that a name that met all of these hopes might not exist.

Then we talked about Dalai, and to our surprise our baby kicked and danced and got more excited than he ever had before. The more we thought about it the more we loved the name and when he was born we spent our first two days with him deciding what felt right. Then we both whispered his new name in his ears and he smiled.

A remarkable man

Like many people around the world, I first heard the word Dalai connected to a remarkable man: His Holiness of the Dalai Lama. At fifteen years old I read his book The Art of Happiness and it changed my life forever. It led me down a path to meditation, Peace Corps, Mongolia, my wife Tunga, and eventually writing several books and even helping build his official iPhone app. What I also didn’t learn until 10 years later, as I was preparing to leave for Mongolia to serve with the Peace Corps, was that the title of Dalai Lama was given by Altan Khan to a Third Dalai Lama in 1574. After serving in the Peace Corps and seeing the incredible history between Mongolia and Tibet, and the impact His Holiness has had on Mongolia’s people and history, I became even more inspired by this special man.

Ocean of Wisdom

We are very excited to teach Dalai about our two cultures on opposite sides of our planet and the wonderful history of his name and his people. We also have a feeling he will be a bit of a world traveler. Before he was born he’s already traveled over 30,000 miles. He crossed the ocean twice from the U.S. to Mongolia and back again. In Mongolia he rode over 3,500 kilometers to three provinces, five villages and the capital city. And in the U.S. we traveled over 18,000 miles, visiting 14 states from Vermont to Florida. And all along the way, on all the trips and travels, Tunga always said that he seemed happy and calm on every trip. And since he’s been born, he seems to love adventures. I have a feeling Dalai is going to be on many of those.