If you were adopting a young child from another country, would you choose a name that was A) from that country B) a western name or C) a mixture of the 2.
ive always loved of thought of adopting and will probably do it someday but this is always something ive thought about.
I think i would use a western name for the first and a local name for the middle.
Probably a mix of the 2, the first name would most likely be a western name unless their local name would be easily pronounceable in country they will grow up. I guess it would also depend if they already answered to the name (ie toddler-child age range) might ask for their input, or a similar name to their own, and would also depend if me and my partner liked the name too. So a lot of factors would come into account.
First, it would depend on the age of the child and if they were 2ish and under, I would change the name. Older than that, I likely wouldn’t. It also depends on the country. If it was Russian and the name was [name_m]Dmitri[/name_m] or [name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f], then I would keep it the same because I think it works well enough in English. Otherwise, I would do the Western name for a first and a local name (probably move their first to the middle) for the mn. I think you’d still want to keep part of their culture and origin there in the name.
If there is a way to keep a child’s birth name, I think you should keep it. Please keep in mind that in an international adoption, children generally are over the age of two.
It really is a question of whether the child himself is attached to the name- many times a child in an orphanage or foster home will have a paperwork name different from the name he is typically called by. For instance, we have close friends who adopted a four year old boy from [name_f]China[/name_f]. From the age of five months, he had been in the care of a foster mother who had called him by an American name. He did not know the name the orphanage had given him, and no one knows if his birth mother ever gave him one. His adoptive family kept the name his foster mom gave him and added a Chinese name that was meaningful to them. They did not keep the orphanage name.
In such a huge transition, the more things that you can keep consistent, the better. If the child finds the name difficult later on, he can choose a more American nickname.
I realize that this answer doesn’t fit into your A, B, C options. I apologize for any derailment, but as an adoptive mother, I do feel very strongly about this.
If the child is old enough to “know” their name, I would keep it. If not, I would give them a western name that I loved (just like naming one of my own birth children), and then either use their given name as the middle or a name from their heritage in the middle slot. It would definitely be a mix of the two.
I agree that if the child is older, keeping the original given name or something very close to it (sound wise), would be excellent. Depending on the age of the child, they also may be able to communicate how attached they are to their name and be apart of the naming process.
However, there may be cases where their name either does not translate well or is incredibly difficult to say. A friend of mine adopted a child from [name_f]India[/name_f], who was 1 year old, and while they had wanted to keep the child’s given name, her name would have incited very strange looks and teasing/snickers due to sounding like a not very great word. So they gave her a new name and placed her original name in the middle. I do think it’s really wonderful to keep the original given name somewhere and feel that this is the best way to honor their heritage.
I think another way to go is to keep their original given name and add a middle name and if it is appropriate, you can call them by that middle name, or if they are older and attached to their given name that may cause problems in the future then they will have another given name to fall back on.
In 2012, we adopted two sisters from [name_f]Russia[/name_f], when they were 5 and 7 years old. We were set on changing their names from the moment we decided to adopt. Their Russian names were [name_f]Masha[/name_f] and [name_f]Olya[/name_f]; they became [name_f]Bridgette[/name_f] and [name_u]Meredith[/name_u]. We did not give them a choice nor ask for their input. We simply introduced them to their new names when we met them, started using them right away and insisted that they called each other by their new names as well. It was a bit of a transition, but it was for the best. [name_f]Bridgette[/name_f] and [name_u]Meredith[/name_u] have not looked back since then, and now, more than 3 years later, we are a happy family.
As someone who is adopting a baby girl 0-12 months from [name_f]Africa[/name_f]- we’ve decided to give her an American name. For us, the tradition of naming your child is very important and sentimental- and as the parents who will raise her- we did not want to give up that important bonding step. It has helped us bond with her from afar- even though we are not matched to a specific child yet. Another reason we didn’t decide to keep her Amharic name- is most of the time with young babies (which are primarily abandonment cases in the country we’re adopting from) and so most babies are just given a random name by a police officer or government official when they’re found.
We are a two middle name family because my fiancé has two middle names anyway- so we’ll be doing two middle names for her- one family name- and the second being most likely her given Ethiopian name. If we do find out that her given name has absolutely no sentimental value (they just picked one out of hat) we will choose another Ethiopian name or are considering [name_u]Addis[/name_u] (the capitol of Ethiopia) to honor her heritage.