When I was born, the family consulted a friend knowledgeable in these matters for an auspicious name for me. He suggested “Kuan Yew”, the dialect rendering of the Mandarin guang yao, meaning “light and brightness”. But my grandfather’s admiration for the British made him add “Harry” to my name, so I was Harry Lee Kuan Yew. My two younger brothers, Kim Yew and Thiam Yew, were also given Christian names – Dennis and Freddy respectively.
