Here is our story... we are in the process of adopting siblings - - a girl 16, and two boys 11 and 10. The 11 yo boy is a Jr. names after his bio dad, so we knew our preference was for his name to be changed, however, we left the decisions up to the kids since they were older. We told them when they were adopted they would get a new last name. The boys both chose to change their first and middle names. We "helped" narrow down the list and then they picked them out. The girl is keeping her first name, but changing her middle and last name. Again, totally her choice.
TPR was Feb 06. The boys had their new names picked out before school let out, and we started calling them by their new names over the summer. The school has allowed them to start school using their new names in class even though our adoption won't be finalized for a few more weeks. Even their sister has adjusted to calling them by their new names and they are both very proud of their names too - I think because they had a part in choosing them!
On a side note - they are both playing PeeWee football and just this week got their jerseys with their new last name on them! They were both excited about that too!
MomInAL
Married to DH for 20 years!
DD 18, DD 16, FD 16, FS 11, FS 10 (soon to be adopted)