Changing the name of an internationally adoped child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that it's very, very common for immigrant families to change the names of their bio children (even older ones) when they move to the U.S. Lots of my friends families have done this. In fact, my husband's name was Americanised when he came at age 6. Some of the kids resent it as adults, others don't. That's a complicated conversation. But, the bottom line is that this happens all the time in bio families and really has nothing to do with adoption.

Different situation entirely! With immigrant bio families, the kids still have their parents and links to their culture (whether they want this or not is another factor altogether...). For international adoptees, the name issue can be much more fraught. It's sometimes the only link they have to their past and changing the name can trigger a lot of anger/sadness - may not show immediately but over time it can cause a lot of resentment. I agree that kids adopted internationally grow up to have lots of different attitudes about this issue but perhaps the best advice I heard was "add to a name. Don't subtract from it."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Up until a child's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, at 8 years of age, the child is not biblically apt to make such decisions for himself. The child's input is thus not required.

Additionally, when God welcomes someone in His House in the Bible, he often gives them new names (Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, etc.) The same should be true when a Christian family adopts a child coming from a non-Christian background.

I disagree with the family's choice of name, though. "Brittany" has absolutely no biblical or theological significance. I hope at least the family is a believer.

This is the biggest load of crap I have ever read on this website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Up until a child's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, at 8 years of age, the child is not biblically apt to make such decisions for himself. The child's input is thus not required.

Additionally, when God welcomes someone in His House in the Bible, he often gives them new names (Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, etc.) The same should be true when a Christian family adopts a child coming from a non-Christian background.

I disagree with the family's choice of name, though. "Brittany" has absolutely no biblical or theological significance. I hope at least the family is a believer.

This is the biggest load of crap I have ever read on this website.

Lunatics like that are adopting, and raising foreign born kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Up until a child's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, at 8 years of age, the child is not biblically apt to make such decisions for himself. The child's input is thus not required.

Additionally, when God welcomes someone in His House in the Bible, he often gives them new names (Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, etc.) The same should be true when a Christian family adopts a child coming from a non-Christian background.

I disagree with the family's choice of name, though. "Brittany" has absolutely no biblical or theological significance. I hope at least the family is a believer.

This is the biggest load of crap I have ever read on this website.

Lunatics like that are adopting, and raising foreign born kids.

Lunatics like that get elected to Congress.

[Anonymous]

My younger sister was adopted from Russia in 1997 at 7 years of age and my parents gave her a very American name as well, similar to the OP's example. She was totally fine with it but it still felt REALLY WEIRD calling her Mallory for the first few days/weeks, when she didn't speak a word of English. It took her some time to respond and she had a hard time even pronouncing the name. It was like a collision between two different worlds.

But after a few weeks it started feeling more and more natural and she quickly adapted. And looking back I think the name change did have a positive impact on how we connected.

She is 21 now, very accomplished and it really feels like Mallory is just who she is.

[Anonymous]

I feel very bad that Brittney (Oksana) has to have her entire life broadcasted on DCUM. I assume OP wasn't bright enough to change the names to protect the innocent?

[Anonymous]

We adopted two older siblings. Through our in-country representative, we asked the kids what they would like to do about names----we said they would have our last name, and then, at their option, could have their existing last name as their middle name, and then keep their current first name, but if they wanted to add an American middle name as a second middle name, then they could. The responses were interesting. Both kids were adamant about dropping their bio family last name. One child had absolutely no interest in altering her first name in any way. The other chose an American name as an additional middle name and decided to use it when starting school.

There was no way we were going to erase the first names that the kids had carried their entire lives.

[Anonymous]

Damn straight why allow any trace if the past obviously the original birth parents sucked real bad.