When u adopt a child do u HAVE to chang the first name?

Randy B

You certainly don't HAVE to do anything of the sort. In our case however, we adopted our oldest from India and she had a very heavily ethnic name. We knew she would not be growing up in the ethnic group and the name would set her apart so we changed it to one that was still ethnic for India, still has an Indian meaning that was relevant to her/our situations and at the same time sounds more western then what she was given in the orphanage. She's 16 now and has stated on numerous times that she is glad we changed it.

Our youngest is almost 14 months and she was given a name that is rather, well, um...."trailer trash" is the best way I can think of to describe it. We chose to modify it slightly and while it still retains a connection to one of the names she was given at birth (her birth mom was strung out at the time and we have forms with 3 different names on them for her) but it is no longer hyphenated and it sounds presentable...in our opinion.

Tash

Depending on the age of the child like say an infant some people change it to something they like. With older children most tend to leave the first name a lone. MOST of the time.

A family in my neighborhood adopted 5 children one of the children's name was " Our Savior" and another one of the children was named
"Heavenly Father" so they did have the children's first names changed to something different.

kaaazmo

No you do not. You don't even have to change any name of the child if you don't want to.

Cathy B

You are definitely not required to change the first name (I think some regions may have rules as to the last name). I think it is a bad idea to change a child's name unless it is absurd (like that family that named their child White Power). A hard to pronounce name is often due to cultural differences and trying to rip away any traces of a child's birth culture is not a good idea. If the child wanted to change their name, it can be done simply when changing a last name, but I would not do it in other cases.

Dalton's Mommy

You do not have to change the child's name. Most parents I assume want to start fresh with a new name. I personally (if the child was old enough) ask if they wanted to change their name.

Jennifer L

Do you HAVE to? No.

Should you? Not unless there is a seriously compelling reason to do so.

My children are from Africa and have some ethnic names. We didn't change them and it hasn't been an issue with "fitting in" or pronounciation.

Now, the kids that had very Nazi names "Adolph Hitler Johnson" or something like that, yes. That qualifies in my book as a "seriously compelling reason).

Serenity71

We never really had names picked out... I just feel the name given to child when they're born is their name. (Surnames can change throughout life but your first name generally always stays the same.) I think its lovely for the adoptive parents to be able to give their child a middle name though. Or at least keep the one their first mother gave them as a middle name if they decide to change it.

The only time I would request a change is if the mother gave them something that would social isolate my child. Like 'Star Jump" or something rediculous like that.(Then I'd just shorten it to 'Star."

If you can't prononce it just shorten it, I know Asians and African's who do that. I rarely see them altering their names to western ones any more.

IDK!!

You don't have to... we did because his name wasn't even a name it was "baby" legally.

Rowan

No you dont have to change the childs name at ANY stage. personally, i would never change the name.

nighteam

No you do not have to change any part of their name. We chose to change our children's first names by spelling. They were both old enough to recognize and responded to their names. We gave them both our last name.

grapesgum

No. In fact I think that an adopted person would appreciate it if his/her adoptive parents had enough respect for his/her origins that they did not feel compelled to brand him/her with their identity.

I find it downright creepy and disrespectful to see adoptive parents giving their Hispanic children names like Brendan and Megan and AA children names like Cooper and Brigid. When I see that I know that they are living the myth of "as if born to".

Rivkah

All of my biological children have Hebrew names and the equivalent in English (ie. Isaac and Yitzhak), so it was only natural that we did the same for the adopted kids.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: