[dlhall]

As far as keeping the Russian name or not, we kept our daughter's first name as her name and received very positive responses in Russia for keeping her name. For my son, we had trouble pronouncing his Russian name, so we gave him a new "Russian" name and kept his original name as his middle name. It's a personal decision and I don't think there's necessarily a right answer, just a right answer for your family. We kept the Russian names because we thought it was an important part of their heritage and we always want to celebrate their heritage.

Liz