Adopting a baby girl from China!

Girl Names
1

My husband and I have been waiting for four years, and we’ve finally accepted a referral for a healthy baby girl from [name]China[/name]! It’s been a long, emotionally straining process, but we’ve finally set up a trip to go with our adoption group to [name]China[/name] in [name]May[/name] to bring our little girl home and start our family.

Our soon-to-be daughter is current 8 months old, and will be 11 months when we bring her home.
She was found outside an orphanage in Beijing, only a few days old.
She is the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen, with the roundest cheeks! My husband and I can’t stop looking at the photos our social worker has brought to us. It all feels surreal.

We’ve decided to keep part of her Chinese name, Xiu Ying, in the middle.
Xiu Ying translated means beautiful flower, and we would love some flower names for our little girl!
Our last name is [name]Paxton[/name].

So she will be ________ Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name].

We’ve decided that as she gets older and if she wants to be called her Chinese name, she can be. We just want to give her a name to really make her ours, and help her better transition into American culture.

Some names we like: [name]Rosemary[/name], [name]Lavender[/name], [name]Rose[/name], [name]Lotus[/name], [name]Lily[/name]

Please help with suggestions!

2

Oh, congrats on your adoption! From your list, I love [name]Rosemary[/name], [name]Rose[/name] and [name]Lily[/name]. I like [name]Lavender[/name] as a mn only. Here are some suggestions.

[name]Lilac[/name]
[name]Clover[/name]
[name]Poppy[/name]
[name]Fleur[/name] / [name]Flora[/name]
[name]Angelica[/name]
[name]Saffron[/name]
[name]Violet[/name]
[name]Daisy[/name]
Juniper
Coral
Anemone
Holly
Iris
Ivy
Primrose
[name]Dahlia[/name]
[name]Magnolia[/name]
[name]Willow[/name]
[name]Jasmine[/name]
[name]Jonquil[/name]
[name]Rosalie[/name] / [name]Rosaline[/name]

3

Congratulations! I’m so glad your adoption’s going well so far :slight_smile:

[name]Lily[/name]'s getting pretty popular, but if you don’t mind that, I think [name]Lily[/name] [name]Paxton[/name] sounds great. Ironically, my own grandmother is from [name]China[/name] and her name is [name]Lily[/name] too :stuck_out_tongue:

4

I think that because your little girl is so young, changing part of her name (and keeping the meaning) is perfectly fine.
[name]Rosemary[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name]: I like the variety of nickname potential of [name]Rosemary[/name] ([name]Rose[/name], [name]Rosie[/name], [name]Rosa[/name], [name]Romy[/name], [name]Mary[/name], [name]Marie[/name]) and I think it is a lovely name, and it all flows fairly well.
[name]Lavender[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name]: I think that [name]Harry[/name] [name]Potter[/name] made this a bit more usable, which is a plus for some and a turn-off for others, but I don’t like its sound as much as some of the others, and it doesn’t flow very well.
[name]Rose[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name]: I like [name]Rose[/name] a lot, and because you have 2 middle names it flows very well.
[name]Lotus[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name]: I think of [name]Lotus[/name] as Lot-Us, but the sound is actually very pretty and I think it goes well with the rest of the name.
[name]Lily[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name]: [name]Lily[/name] is probably my favorite of your names, and I think it flows and is just gorgeous!
and my suggestion: [name]Violet[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name]: Keeps with the flower theme, and while I don’t think it has excellent flow, I still like it alot.
I commend you for adopting your little girl, and good luck!

5

I think [name]Rosemary[/name] Xiu Ying [name]Paxton[/name] flows the best out of all the names you listed. I like [name]Lily[/name], but it is awfully popular. Congratulations on your baby! :slight_smile:

6

Congratulations!

[name]Rosemary[/name] - I quite like this name, and it sounds lovely with the middle and last names. I guess my one thought is that [name]Rosemary[/name] isn’t really a flower, so it relates to the meaning a little less well, although you do still have the word “rose” there. It also has etymological ties to “dew of the sea” and since she’s coming over the sea to be with you, that’s kind of cool. It also has cultural ties to memories, which for an adopted child could be appealing, or not, depending on your style. I vote yes overall.

[name]Lavender[/name] - I just find this is too weird. Again, it’s more an herb than a flower anyway. If you want her to “fit in” better, this name is probably not the way to go.

[name]Rose[/name] - wonderful. End of story : D. The 1-2 syllable rhythm with your last name is great.

[name]Lotus[/name] - similar reaction to [name]Lavender[/name]. [name]Lotus[/name] also has these weird “exotic” (and/or drug) connotations that I think on an adopted child are kind of loaded. I’d stay away, and have a similar reaction to [name]Poppy[/name].

[name]Lily[/name] - a tremendously popular flower name that is lovely. She’s coming to you in 3 months, so that will be just past [name]Easter[/name] time I believe, if you are [name]Christian[/name], that is a nice tie in. I will say that [name]Lily[/name] is the name of the daughter (adopted from Vietnam) of a gay couple on the TV show Modern Family. I think I could meet an adopted child of [name]Asian[/name] heritage without really even thinking of that, because the name is so popular, and I watch the show regularly. Still, please be aware of it.

In general, I’d encourage you to go more conservative in your choices. I think the following would be lovely:
[name]Dahlia[/name]
[name]Iris[/name]
[name]Violet[/name]

If you do want to go a little more unusual, like [name]Lavender[/name] and [name]Lotus[/name], I’d recommend [name]Azalea[/name] and [name]Zinnia[/name]. These fit the rhythms of traditional girls’ names in English, so she’ll stand out a bit while fitting in more than [name]Lotus[/name] or [name]Lavender[/name] or some of the other more less common choices.

I also think [name]Flora[/name] or [name]Florence[/name] could be good: a little edgy in their vintage way, but still very related to the meaning of her name and fitting in well.

Good luck!

7

Congratulations on your adoption! [name]How[/name] exciting!

I think [name]Lavender[/name] would be lovely. It’s such a rare, pretty name. I associate the smell of lavender with being safe and calm, and lavender scented things always make me think of babies. It’d be a bold choice, but a nice one.

[name]Rose[/name] would be my second choice.

8

Thank you, everyone! We’ve gotten a really great response from family and friends when we told them we would be keeping her Chinese name in the middle and giving her a flower name. I was half expecting people to be outraged my changing her name, but everyone seems to understand.

[name]Lily[/name] is my husband’s favorite, but I’ve met so many little [name]Lily[/name]'s!

I really love the suggestions of [name]Daisy[/name], [name]Willow[/name], [name]Rosalie[/name], and [name]Violet[/name]!
She has such a gentle eyes in the pictures we’ve gotten, I think any of these soft names would fit her nicely!

9

Congratulations Clairbear! All four of my siblings are adopted, although none from [name]China[/name]. I think it’s great that you’ll be keeping her name as a middle, as that will be a connection to [name]China[/name] that you’ll be able to talk about with her. My favourites of those you are considering are: [name]Lily[/name], [name]Violet[/name], and [name]Rosalie[/name]. I think [name]Rosalie[/name] is so nice because you have a couple of nickname options, if that’s something you consider in a name. You could (with a little bit of a stretch) get the nickname [name]Lily[/name] from [name]Rosalie[/name], which might appeal to your hubby!!

Good luck!!!

10

Thank you!
It’s very important to us that she always knows where she comes from. We have been educating ourselves about Chinese culture for years, and we definitely want it to be a part of her life as she grows up :)!

You’re right, [name]Rosalie[/name] could bring us to [name]Lily[/name]! I told my husband and he laughed at me, though! Haha!

On the file that our social worker brought us, it says our little girl is very quiet and calm for a baby. So we’re leaning towards softer sounding flower names, not like [name]Zinnia[/name] or [name]Dahlia[/name], to fit her better.

11

My first thought was [name]Anthea[/name], which means ‘flower’ in Greek. There’s also [name]Calanthe[/name] or [name]Calantha[/name], which is greek and would have the same meaning as your daughter’s Chinese name - ‘beautiful flower’, and could lend themselves to [name]Callie[/name] as a nickname, which I think is pretty adorable.

Other than those, I think that you’ve already gotten a lot of fantastic suggestions! [name]Iris[/name] is a personal favorite of mine, and it might be an interesting pick for your daughter because of the Chinese historian [name]Iris[/name] [name]Chang[/name]. I also love [name]Violet[/name], [name]Poppy[/name], [name]Daisy[/name], and [name]Lily[/name]. Perhaps if you’re concerned about [name]Lily[/name]'s popularity you may be interested in [name]Lilia[/name] or [name]Lilias[/name], with [name]Lily[/name] as a nickname?

12

Congratulations! I love [name]Rosalie[/name] and [name]Rosemary[/name], as well as [name]Daisy[/name], [name]Violet[/name] or [name]Iris[/name]. [name]Do[/name] you like [name]Laurel[/name]? That’s one of my favorite nature names (thought I know not technically a flower).

I like the suggestion of [name]Lilia[/name] or [name]Lillian[/name] with [name]Lily[/name] as a nickname.

Random suggestion but I used to live in Beijing and I always loved that [name]May[/name] meant both beautiful (meili using the pinyin transliteration) and the start of American (Meiguo). [name]May[/name]/[name]Mae[/name] popped into my head because of that and because you said you would be traveling to [name]China[/name] in [name]May[/name].

Congratulations again!

13

I actually really adore [name]Lily[/name] so that’s getting my thumbs up! I’d also like to suggest [name]Briony[/name]. I think it’s a great idea to keep her name as her middle name. I’ve known several families who have done that and I think it’s a nice tribute to your daughter’s heritage. Congrats on finally being matched!

14

You could go with the less common [name]Lilith[/name] to get to [name]Lily[/name] also.

15

Congratulations!! I love [name]Lily[/name] or [name]Violet[/name]!!

16

Congratulations! I think evveryone has already suggested every flower name that I can think of. You could also look up her birth flower and use that or since you are bringer her home in [name]May[/name] use [name]Lily[/name] since [name]Lily[/name] of the [name]Valley[/name] is the birth flower for [name]May[/name]. I think that would be a really cute connection.

17

Wow, it never occurred to us that [name]Lily[/name] of the [name]Valley[/name] is the flower for the month of [name]May[/name]! [name]Lily[/name] of the valley is also my mother’s favorite flower.
The only thing that keeps me from being all for [name]Lily[/name] is the popularity.
But thank you everyone so far!

18

I think it would be sweet if you named her [name]Lilith[/name] or [name]Lillian[/name] or some another less common name where you could still have [name]Lily[/name] as a nickname (since [name]Lily[/name] itself is so popular).

19

Congratulations! That is so wonderful!
[name]Violet[/name]
[name]Ivy[/name]
[name]Primrose[/name] or Prim
[name]Dahlia[/name]
[name]Bryony[/name]
[name]Pansy[/name]
[name]Zahara[/name]
[name]Rose[/name]/[name]Rosalie[/name]
I like all of these but my favorites are [name]Primrose[/name]/Prim, [name]Violet[/name] and [name]Bryony[/name].
Good luck and God bless.

20

My favorite flower name (that I think no one has mentioned) is [name]Calla[/name] :slight_smile: