[rosenfeldwest]

Naming Ivanna has been interesting. DH and I had set out to adopt a toddler and decided before referral that we would not change the child's name. Fortunately when we got Ivanna's referral we loved her name. I loved the meaning, "gracious gift from God", and loved that it sounded the same in spanish and in english.

After 6 months and 2 visit trips, we learned Ivanna had never been called Ivanna. She had always been called Paolita. That explained why she never responded to the name Ivanna when I used it during the two visit trips and why the psych who reviewed her video found it interesting that all her skills were on target expect for responding to her name (she was always called Ivanna during the video updates we received and that was how the agency always referred to her). I finally asked about a nick name when I realized this and was told that she knew her name as Paolita. Poor kid is dropped off with me (a stranger during my first trip) and I don't even know her name .

At that point DH and I were really confused about what to do. I had called our daughter Ivanna during 2 visit trips, all of our friends and family knew her as Ivanna and most importantly our bio son knew her as Ivanna. Oh and it was the name her birthmother chose for her. So we decided we'd call her Ivanna Paolita and the foster mom starting doing this. By my third visit she was responding to both names. We will continue to call her Ivanna Paolita regardless of what her formal name is (Paola, Paolina etc.). I think we're going to go with Paolina since it also sounds the same in spanish and in english. Paola can be pronounced very differently in english. By the way, Paola, Paolina, Paolita all mean "little one". Perfect for our petitte Ivanna.

Thanks again for all the feedback!

[SweetMoody]

Sounds like it will work out just fine. Either way, she has a beautiful name.

[praying4rlittl1]

It is interesting that you pointed this out. Our dd we are adopting is named Julia Graciela. We have been referring to her as Julia. The other day as I was watching her much watched DVD , something caught my attention that never had before. There is one time when the director is talking to our son and in the background someone calls Julia to get her attention...and they call her Grace! After I caught it, dh and I watched it several times, and sure enough, the person refers to her as Grace and she immediately looks up. We are visiting in 3 weeks, and the first question we have for the foster family is what she prefers to be called! It is also interesting that our son is also referred to by his middle name. Wonder why this is? Anyway, we love the name Grace as well, so we will wait and see...

On another side note, I love the name Ivanna Paolina. Very, very pretty.

Dawn

“I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't
trust me so much.” - Mother Teresa


Wife to my best friend since 1988
Mom to 3 wonderful bio daughters, 13, 11 & 9
3-14-05 Signed with homestudy agency
3-15-05 I600-A mailed-logged in to CIS on 3-25-05
3-22-05 Signed with agency
4-14-05 Final homestudy visit---approved
4-15-05 Dossier complete
5-18-05 Dossier off to Consulate and agency
5-18-05 Referral of brotherandsistersiblings!! Ages 7 and 5!!
5-27-05 Fingerprints…POA and hs addendum to agency
6-3-05 CIS APPROVAL!! POA and hs addendum hand delivered to Guate by agency
6-7-05 I171-H
6-20-05 DNA ordered, 6-21-05 DNA done, 6-29-05 It’s a MATCH!!
In FC yet and waiting for that elusive Pre-approval… J

[Devora]

Calliing children by their middle name (or the diminutive of their middle name) seems to be quite common in Guatemala. I wonder if this is because children often share their first name with a parent or other relative and so the middle name is a way to distinguish which person you're talking to/about?

Occasionally our hoped-for-son's family calls him by his first name; in the card they gave to us when they came at the end of our visit to get him they referred to him by the diminutive form of his middle name; but mostly they called him by a nickname (Pinito -- "little pine tree"). He was only 4 months old at our visit so was just at the age when children usually start responding to their names -- but it's no wonder that we didn't get a reaction to any of them!

Devora

[jental0626]

My little girl will be two in August. Her birth name is Maria Sabina. She is called by her foster family as "Sabie" or Maria Sabina. There is another little girl with the name Maria in her foster family so the nickname is usually what she is called.

On all of my monthly visits, I call her Carson-Maria. As long as I call her Carson Maria, she will respond without any problem. If "Maria" is dropped from Carson, she has no clue that I am calling her by name.

I refer to her as "Sabie" when we are in a hurry to go or do something. It works perfect in that situation. As far as her adopted formal name, it will be

Carson Maria