[2boyz1girl]

We're in the process of adopting our 20-month-old fd who has been in our home since the age of 10 days. The day we brought her home we decided on what we would name her if we got to adopt. We nick-named her then, and have never called her by her given name. When her bfather agreed to relinquish he asked if we would keep her name (knowing we called her something different). We told him that we would consider giving it to her as a second-middle name. The problem is that it is a very unusual name and I just really don't care for it at all. Just wondering if others had kept a name to honor their children's heritage, and what your thoughts are on this.
Thanks.

[orphanagemom]

Hi,
We just adopted our little one (just turned 3 yrs last week) from the Philippines. We kept her given name, and just changed her middle, and of course last. We thought it would be a nice gesture to her birthmom who has the exact same name. Her name is very pretty, and very easy to pronounce, and it even kind of "matches" our other daughters name!! But, if you don't like the name at all, I probably wouldn't keep it at all. If you have a scrapbook or memory book for your daughter, she'll always know what her birth name was, and who knows, maybe she'll thank you for changing it?!!

[mj77]

Our son was named as a Jr. and knowing the history of his bfather, it really bothered us. His foster family called him by a nickname the whole 13 mo. they had him as they didn't care for his given name either. Also my son was legally free at 3 mo. so it wasn't an issue of the bparents getting him back. So we went ahead and changed his name. We gave him the only name we both could agree on. Another reason his name was changed, along with his SSN, was to protect his identidy from bfamily who are not safe people.

[rastachris]

Our son's first name is one we both really liked. His middle name is for my father who passed away a few years ago. We chose this name for a boy years ago, before we were even married. And when we chose it, it was a virtually unknown name. Now it is like #4 on baby name lists. Oh well. We decided against keeping any part of his Haitian given name.

We went to Maui twice last year and visited a lovely beach. We really like the name and the spelling of the beach so we chose that as a girl's name should we be blessed with a girl. We had also wanted to name a girl Mary. So, when we adopted our daughter, we took one look at her and decided that she was definately not a Mary. Her first middle name is after my husband's oldest sister and her second middle name is what the nurses called our baby girl in the hospital. Her birth mother did not name her and never saw her, so the the nurses had to call her something.

Tina, mama to Aidan and Makena

[LoveRiddenDad]

All three of our daughters have french names and are named after characters/actors from movies/television. Our son, however, is named for my best friend.

The history of their names is a little different though. Our oldest daughter, C, came to us at two months as a foster child and we decided to call her by a nickname, which we legally changed to her name when she was two. Her middle name is after Ayn Rand.

Our son was a newborn; he was named after a friend, as mentioned earlier, and shares my first name as a middle name.

Our second daughter, A.N., was named after one of my favorite female actresses, and her middle name is after my mom.

The baby, A.E., is named after a cartoon character/ the french word for "friend." Her middle name is my S/O's favorite girl's name.

[heidi and co.]

Good Thread! Its a bit confusing but here goes~~Our oldest kept her birthname but chose to correct the spelling of it to Cienna and her middlename Rose was given to her by her bmom so we kept it. . Her bio sis whose adoption is finalized in 2 weeks was called Sophia from day one in our home. (Bname was after a street that she was born on and her middle name is named after her bmom's favorite witch). So.. her middle name is to honor her and her sister's roots, again another flower Sophia Iris which is also a family name for us. Our other 2 (finalized will be in 2 weeks as well) come from a different birthfamily but are biosibs. Robert will keep his firstname but take the middle name of my Papa who dearly loves the Mexican culture. His sister is called Monica Alida because her bname was too much like Cienna and Monica was her middle name at birth. I chose Alida because it is of Spanish descent and fits her so well. There you have it!

[ACR]

We named our child (adopted at birth) as we would have a bio child-- our favorite name. Because we liked the name our birthmother gave him, we included it as him middle name. However, if we hadn't liked the name, we wouldn't have used it.

[DebCsMom]

We matched with 2 of the 3 Birth Moms prior to the birth. So we chose the names together, Birth Mom & Us. Then the children middle names honor their Bmoms. Our first adopted daughter is Cylie (Kylie) Elizabeth. Elizabeth is bmoms middle name & also Cylie's Great Grandma's first name.

Our 2nd adopted daughter is Cirrah (Kira) Emani. We were matched when she was 1 1/2 days days old. We hadn't decided on a name in time for her Bmoms discharge from the hospital. She named her Emani. We LOVED it & kept it as her middle name. Would have kept it as her first name if we didn't have the "C" thing going! LOL All our children's name begin with a "C". After our 2 bio children, Chelsea & Cody, we were stuck! LOL

Our adopted son is Caleb Noah Nicholas. His name has QUITE a meaning. We told our bio son that he could name the baby as long as we all agreed to it. We tossed around a few different names. Then one night he came up with Caleb. We instantly loved it. He didn't want to discuss any more names, Caleb was it!! The next day I spoke to his Bmom. We talked about names. I asked her what she was thinking of. She said she liked the last 2 names we mentioned but not enough to keep. THEN... she says, "You know what name I ABSOLUTELY love? I LOVE the name CALEB!!!" I got the chills! When I told her what had happened the night before & how adament Cody was at having the name Caleb. We agreed it was fate that we were together. His Bmoms name is Nicole so we chose Nicholas. Noah comes from, "Miracles Happen To Those Who Believe".

We really wanted the names to be something that was a decision made by all of us, Birth Mom included. The only stipulation is that it had to begin with a "C". LOL

[jewelewis]

When we first started talking about adoption my daughter (8 today) said,"if its a girl can we name her Jaycee." I asked her where she heard that name and she said she just thought of it. I wanted the middle name Faith no matter what. When we met "D" she asked if we could use the middle name Kristin (her best friend at the time). I was a little disappointed but agreed to the name. We thought and thought of a name and kept going back the Jaycee. In the meantime "D" and her best friend got in a huge fight and she said I could name her anything I wanted. So here she is now Jaycee Faith.

[MichLyn143]

We adopted our daughter from a friend of our family, so she has always been called by her current name, which hold a great meaning for us. My family is Jewish, which names after loved ones that have passed away. Two years ago, I lost both my great grandmother and grandmother (mother and daughter) and it was extremely important to us that we incorporate their names in to a name for our daughter. However, their names were Sylvia and Geraldine, neither or which we cared for. We also have a bio daughter that we wanted to include in the naming. So, like my parents did for my sister and me, we took the first letter of each name, and began looking for names from there. My eldest decided on Sophia almost immediately, and we all loved it. A middle name took a bit of convincing for my husband, but we now have our sweet Sophia Grace.

Michelle

[LisaCA]

we picked her first name because we liked it. The middle name is a french version of my aunt's name (she just passed away last year). Her second middle name is the first half of the name that her birthmother gave her. We really wanted to have her keep an aspect of that name, even though we really don't care much for her name. We wanted to signify that we were bringing the families together and not make an issue of the name. In fact, we encouraged bmom to name her what she wanted to.

LisaCA

[lmrod55]

We had a couple names for each gender picked out for some time before we were matched and we had said that we would go with what ever name felt right once we brought the baby home. As it turns out, bmom didn't have a name picked out - in fact she wanted the baby to leave the hospital with her forever name (except the last name)...so we told her the couple of names for a girl and she immediately loved Kristina Elizabeth. Kristina is a name that dh and I love and Elizabeth is in honor of my mom (and it happens to be dd bgrandma's name too).

[rtsmom]

For our first son (bio), we chose a first name we both really liked - Devin (means "poet") and for a middle name Nicholas, after St. Nicholas (he was born two days before Christmas). Our second child (bio daughter) got the only first name we could agree on - Zoë (means "life) - and her middle name is my mom's maiden name.

Our 3rd and 4th children were adopted (as infants) and both have a rare syndrome that includes multiple disabilities. Because they are both mentally challenged, we wanted simple names that are easy to say and spell. So we have Max (Maxwell) - which happens to include all the letters of his birthname (Alex) - Amadeus (the NICU nurses told us he LOVED music). And we have Benjamn Jonah. Ben was the only name that my husband and our two eldest kids could agree on and Jonah honours my mother (Joan) and her father (Johann) and also my mother-in-law, whose initials are BJ.

Hope that's not too confusing!

[spaypets]

My daughter (adopted at 18 months) was born in India and had an Indian name that meant flower but was sort of unpleasant sounding to us and unfamiliar to American ears. So we never really considered keeping it.

Instead we named her the same initials as my gfather who died shortly after our referral. Her middle name, which was also one of my dear friend's names, is also DH's great grandmother's name so we incorporated both sides of the house in our choice. We chose Shoshana as her Hebrew name to honor my mother, Susan, and because it means lily, so it draws upon the meaning of her Indian name.

After we accepted the referral, we wrote the orphanage and asked them to start using her new name. I don't know that they did, but she adjusted to it almost instantly.

Like Rastachris, though, we picked it because it was familiar but uncommon--shortly after we got home, Parents magazine chose it as an up and coming name. Sigh. We should have known. Everytime we tell people her name, I can see them file it away to suggest to someone else.