We’re hoping to adopt soon and a potential match is a 2 year old boy named [name_m]Donovan[/name_m]. Im interested to hear options of similar sounding names that could work as an alternative if we wanting to change it without adding to much confusion.
Have you considered using it as his middle name?
[name_m]Jonathan[/name_m]
Danon
[name_m]Dalton[/name_m]
[name_m]Donald[/name_m]
[name_m]Solomon[/name_m]
[name_m]Duncan[/name_m]
[name_m]Desmond[/name_m]
[name_u]Douglas[/name_u]
[name_m]Nathan[/name_m]
[name_m]Dominic[/name_m]
[name_u]Dylan[/name_u]
[name_u]Sullivan[/name_u]
[name_m]Finnegan[/name_m]
[name_m]Damian[/name_m]
[name_u]Dorian[/name_u]
[name_m]Declan[/name_m]
I would not change a 2 year old boys name, if they are from an English speaking country. It’s already going to be a rough transition and that will make it harder. My brothers were adopted at 3 and 6 years old, and while their names aren’t my parents style, it’s way too much to change them.
You could keep donovan since he is already older and nickname him van.
I like the idea of [name_u]Van[/name_u] as a nn
I think it’s actually fairly common for a name change when a child is adopted… I know lots of older kids will name change too (at their own choice) just for a fresh start.
I guess anything else ending in “van”, like [name_u]Sullivan[/name_u], [name_m]Declan[/name_m] etc is fairly similar sounding.
What about [name_u]Evan[/name_u] as a nickname? It sounds quite similar to the “ovan” part of [name_m]Donovan[/name_m]. You could also use [name_m]Dan[/name_m] (Donovan). Or [name_m]Donny[/name_m], [name_u]Danny[/name_u], [name_u]Denny[/name_u]- these sound fairly old-fashioned though, like a name you’d expect to hear on a middle-aged man rather than a child. There’s also [name_m]Novak[/name_m], like the tennis player, which is similar to the “nova” in [name_m]Donovan[/name_m].
With an older older child, yes. But at 2 years old they are old enough to know their name and not old enough to understand the transition or make the choice for themselves
Keep the name it’s nice.