Hello,
We are trying to decide on a name for our soon to be daughter. We are adopting an 18 month old baby girl from [name]China[/name]. We are completely thrilled, so very excited. We’ve known about her for about a month and haven’t been able to decide on her name. Would love some input.
We have 3 boys, [name]Gabe[/name], [name]Dexter[/name], and [name]Quincy[/name]. I’m so excited to have a daughter.
It seems like so many of the names we love have been used by family or close friends. We like [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name], [name]Penelope[/name], & [name]Annabelle[/name]. We will likely keep her Chinese name as a middle name.
Thoughts on any of those? Other suggestions? Criteria- definitely girly. Obvious pronunciation.
We live in a small town, I don’t want a super super popular name, but nothing too far out there. Example, we have lots of [name]Isabella[/name]'s in town, but we just now got a [name]Harper[/name].
Thanks,
[name]Michelle[/name]
Those are all fairly popular names, or at least variations/combinations of popular names. Here are some feminine alternatives or similar choices:
[name]Mirabelle[/name]
[name]Mary[/name] [name]Alice[/name]
[name]Annabeth[/name]
[name]Fiona[/name]
[name]Arabella[/name]
[name]Camille[/name]
[name]Daphne[/name]
[name]Aurora[/name]
[name]Clementina[/name]
[name]Marielle[/name]
[name]Stella[/name]
[name]Eliana[/name]
[name]Angeline[/name]
[name]Annika[/name]
[name]Marian[/name]
[name]Samantha[/name]
[name]Evangeline[/name]
[name]Gabrielle[/name]
[name]Christabelle[/name]
[name]Anneliese[/name]
[name]Madeleine[/name]
[name]Rosalie[/name]
[name]Coraline[/name]
[name]Maybelle[/name]
[name]Lillian[/name]
[name]Perrine[/name] means ‘traveler’. I’ve met a boy using [name]Perrin[/name], but no little girls named [name]Perrine[/name] (though I have a few French ancestors with the name). I think it’s sweet.
What’s her Chinese name? Is there a way of translating that into English? It’s something that was given to her, so that might be important to her someday. If there isn’t really a translation, I like “[name]Lily[/name]”, “[name]Eve[/name]”, “[name]Joy[/name]” or “[name]Hope[/name]”.
Your choices are all lovely.
[name]Penelope[/name] might get very popular, so if you’re worried about popularity, you might want to avoid it.
[name]Anna[/name] is fairly popular - #35 most popular last year. It’s classic though, and will probably never feel overly popular.
[name]Alice[/name]
[name]Anneliese[/name]
[name]Audrey[/name]
[name]Catherine[/name] (nn [name]Cat[/name] or [name]Cate[/name])
[name]Cecilia[/name]
[name]Delilah[/name]
[name]Elodie[/name]
[name]Hazel[/name]
[name]Isla[/name] (the pronunciation isn’t entirely intuitive, “I-la”, but it’s so pretty and feminine!)
[name]Josephine[/name]
[name]Mila[/name]
[name]Natalie[/name]
[name]Noelle[/name]
[name]Phoebe[/name]
[name]Serena[/name]
[name]Violet[/name]
Why don’t you look at a few of the lists on this site? The Girly-Girl Names may spark some interest. Here’s a link:
The other one is the Romantic Girls:
Congrats on your adoption!
[name]Annabelle[/name]! I love it. 
[name]Just[/name] wanted to say how wonderful to have adopted a little girl - very wonderful for you all. [name]Anna[/name] or [name]Annabelle[/name] get my vote
[name]Lovely[/name] story 
Would this list help? Maybe trying to find a name that bridges the gap between Chinese and English?
Oooh I love [name]Teagan[/name]
[name]Penelope[/name] would be the only name from your list that I like. Other names you may like are
[name]Maya[/name]
[name]Julia[/name]
[name]Lauren[/name]
[name]Camille[/name]
[name]Alyssa[/name]
[name]Sophia[/name]
[name]Mia[/name]
[name]Nadia[/name]
[name]Claudia[/name]
[name]Kendra[/name]
[name]Bethany[/name]
[name]Elise[/name]
[name]Chloe[/name]
[name]Olivia[/name]
[name]Hi[/name]! I think it is wonderful that you want to name your child something with history. My name is also [name]Adeline[/name], named after my great grandma. Many people call me [name]Addy[/name], and that is the name I use at school (I am thirteen.) I have two middle names as seen I’m my username.
[name]Adeline[/name] = Dad’s dad’s mother’s first of two middle names
[name]Nellie[/name] = Dad’s mother’s mothers first name
[name]Ruth[/name] = [name]Both[/name] of Mom’s grandmothers first names
You may want to travel the road of two short middle names also. It flows very well and I am proud of my names. Meaningful names would be good. Also, I am a tomboy and partly wish that I had more tomboyish middle names that I could go by, if you want that option for your child. Other ideas may be:
[name]Maria[/name]
[name]Katherine[/name]
[name]Charisma[/name]
[name]Laura[/name]
[name]Anna[/name]
Annaleece
[name]Jane[/name]
[name]Annabell[/name]
[name]Electra[/name]
[name]Genevieve[/name]
Good luck choosing a middle name for your girl!
I was talking last night with a Chinese acquaintance about how she chose the English language name she uses in Australia. She said that she looked for a name with the same meaning as her given name, and matched the sound of the English name as much as she could to her family name, as family names are more ‘important’ (her word) than given names in [name]China[/name]. I realize that may be more complicated for a child who has lost their connection with their family.
My daughter is named [name]Annabelle[/name], and I love your boys names, so we must have similar naming styles! My favorite girls name right now us [name]Gemma[/name] (it means precious gem), its not super common (at least where I live), but [name]IMO[/name] it is farmiliar because of the “emma” sound.
Other girls names I really like are [name]Grace[/name] and [name]Violet[/name] which I would like to use in middle spots for a future daughter. [name]Annabelle[/name]'s middle name is [name]Molly[/name].
Thanks for all the ideas! Her Chinese name is Zi Shu. Our agency tells us Zi means violet or purple and Shu means kind/gentle. I wish I loved [name]Violet[/name], I think it’s a very cool name, just doesn’t feel quite right for us. Also, her name was given by the orphanage director, every child in the orphanage has the same last name. we want to honor her heritage but also give her a fresh start.
We’re still not sure what we’re going to name her but this helps!
[name]Michelle[/name]
I love the idea of keeping her Chinese name as her middle name. Thank you :). So wonderful!! I really like [name]Annabelle[/name] :). CONGRATS!!!
I know a [name]Perrine[/name]! Gorgeous name and it suits her well.
You might have to think about whether the name fits her or not, because I know a lot of names don’t fit Chinese girls. I think [name]Anna[/name] or [name]Alice[/name] are nice names and would fit an [name]Asian[/name] well. What about [name]Jasmine[/name], [name]Fiona[/name], [name]Ivy[/name], [name]Lily[/name], [name]Sammy[/name]? Maybe you could use a name that sounds similar to her Chinese name. Like Li could be changed to [name]Leah[/name], or [name]Xia[/name] could be translated to [name]Charlotte[/name].
We just adopted a little girl about the same age from Ethiopia. We’re currently here waiting for a visa- what very big and exciting experience for your family!
My only advice is to give her a name that has some meaning to you. A connection to your family, a family name, or a name that links her to your kids somehow.
Good luck!
What about [name]Mirabelle[/name] / [name]Mirabel[/name]? Like [name]Annabelle[/name], but less popular.