Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Choosing a Name


We are often asked who named our children---us or the birth parents?


Our girls both have birth names, and we chose to incorporate their birth names into the names we gave them.


We wanted to honor where they came from, where they started, and who gave them life. But we also wanted to make sure the kids became ours and felt like ours, and one way to do that, we felt, was for us to name our children.

We wanted our children to have non-traditional names. I feel that they are unique, and their names should reflect that. We also wanted names that started with a vowel.


Naming a child is such an honor, a blessing, and a responsibility. We spent many many many (to my husband's dismay, at times) hours discussing names. I checked dozens of baby name books out from the library, searched online, and discussed names with other parents.


My advice is that an adoptive couple carefully consider the child's birth name and the wishes of the biological family when naming the child. Arguably, the child's name is the one thing a biological family gives the child (obviously besides life and an adoptive family) that can always stay with that child. I'm not completely for or against name changes, but my hope is that the circumstances and feelings of all parties are considered when a decision is made. You can read more about naming your child here.


Proverbs 22:1: "A good name is more desirable than great riches."

1 comment:

  1. I totally hear you on the name thing and also had the same verse from Proverbs in my mind. We completely renamed our first child due to the tie his name had. His name now means "Gift from God". We kept our second child's birth name, just changing the spelling and giving him a middle name. His name didn't make sense until we got through the process. His name means "hedged valley" which SO describes our journey for him. Our daughter's name was completely our doing too and prayed about. Her name means wholeness and that couldn't be more perfect for her.

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