when you adopt children, do you get to name them as well?

Mini M.

well I'm only 13 so I guess I don't know that much, but my family adopted a boy 2 years ago when he was 6 weeks old. He was in a foster family before that, but we named him Isaac. So I know that you can name them if they're babies, but I'm not sure about older kids.

yes because you took them out of the hands of there real parents to start a new life so you can change their name

Heisenberg

you can choose to rename the kid ONLY if you follow certain guidelines:

1. Named after any car from a 1950's or 1960's movie
2. In addition to changing name, you slap lightning stickers on it.

Yes, of course you can change the kids name.

Dayle

Yes, you do. When you get the final approval, the adoption worker will ask you, for the name you have chosen for your child.
At your adoption hearing, paperwork will be issued with your child's new name, when you receive the new birth certificate it will have the new name of your child.

You always have that option. However, older children may have already become accustomed to a first name.

emily

only if you adopt them when they are first born.
im adopted, and my birthmom decided right when she found out she was pregnant, that she was gonna give me up for adoption. and so my adopted parents got to name me.

djpetrik3

My parents gave me my name- there was no name change because my biological mother chose not to name me. I gave up my child for adoption- and I picked the name, but then decided I wanted the adoptive family to choose too. So, they picked out the first name- and I chose the middle name. It really depends on the situation, the people involved, and personal choice.

Gabby_Gabby_Purrsalot

We swapped forms of his first and middle names around. Now. three months later, he's not responding very well to his "new" name. he's 11 months old now... the name he responds best to, believe it or not, is when my dad calls him "Stinky," like for "Little Stinker."

The real reason we changed his name was because his birth name has some seriously negative connotations in my family. and we didn't want him to have to overcome that. His name was also a little too common (first, middle, with our last name) and I was concerned about identity theft if we would've kept it as it was.

GEE-GEE

Yes you can. Especially if you adopt them from birth. I would not want to change a childs first name if they were over 1 or 1 1/2 years old. They get used to one name and I don't think its right to change it.

ezachowski

Like the first answer says, you can legally change their names but you have to do the proper paper-work for the change.

momof3boys

You can choose to keep their names or you can apply to the courts to change the names. The last name of course changes once the adoption is finalized. If you are adopting an infant though usually you do pick a name but with older children they may not want their names changed.

Mom to Foster Children

Yes you can change their names...but keep in mind the age of the child that you are adopting. We aren't changing our little ones name as it's his / he has had it all of his life...etc. We are going to move his last name (birth name) to a middle name and give him our last name though...that way he doesn't loose the name given to him by his parents.

Dark_Fire_Angel

Yep you can i know alot of birthmothers who named there kids but later the adoptive parents changed they're childrens names once everything was finalized. In my experiece my daugthers name is not being touched that was something i was not willing back down on but they loved her named anyways so really not any fighting at all with that. She even told me last week she doesnt know what my daugthers name would have been if it was up to her she says her name for her was just so perfect.

TONYA

yeah

â™« annarella â™«

You can choose to keep their names, or you can legally change them. But you have to file paperwork to change their names.

Jaelyn F

Yes, I think so.

Romany

My aparents kept the name my first mom gave me - but denied I was adopted.

Shay P

Yes, you do. My brother was adopted and he had a cool island name so we used it as his middle name!

yahooisacommiewebsite

ofcourse.

Lillie

Sure you can, just like you can name your new puppy or shelter dog whatever you want to.

Legally? Yes you can.

Morally?

Well, that's something your adopted child will have to live with for the rest of his/her life. Consider THAT.

MY original name was stolen from me, my original documents sealed up and locked away. The one and only thing my mother could give me - my NAME - was taken from me the moment I was adopted and my name was changed.

I have never felt like my "new" name suited me, even now, 34 years later, when I introduce myself I feel like I am introducing somebody else. It's an assumed identity.

Someday I will take that name back. I am going to legally change it BACK to what my mother wanted it to be, before adoption stole it from me.

dixie8026

It really depends on the age of the child at adoption. Your not going to adopt a 6 year old named Sally and say you are now Jane. If its a newborn I would say that you can name it whatever you choose. You could probably get away with a name change right up to 3 but I think that would be a little weird.

Independ"ant"

Yes, unfortunately the child loses that right too. There's no need to do it. If an a-parent cant pronounce it, they should just give the child a nickname. It harmful to try and change a childs identity.

celtic.piskie

Yes.

We don't even have a right to our own names, whatever age we're adopted at.

I really wouldn't. Ever. There's never a good reason to.

Jennifer L

Legally, yes.

But I don't think that means that an adoptive parent SHOULD.

Unless there is a seriously compelling reason to change a child's given name, I don't believe it should be done without the child's consent. Many adoptees have very little of their own; a name is an intimate part of who an individual is.

For the record: changing a child's name because the adoptive parents don't like it, is not a seriously compelling reason, in my book.

tickled blue

Yes you can legally change their name....but doing so could be harmful for the child. If the child is an infant, I guess that would be ok, but an older child would clearly be confused....further, this name is the name their parents chose for them...so changing that--unless out of safety to the child--is generally not the best option for the child. If you want to change anything...you can add a name or nickname, without having to take away the original name.

@@@@@

Many older foster kids WANT to change their names if they get adopted. It's like a new beginning.

But if you are adopting an older child, the suggestion should come from the child and not you (the parents).
Infants, people change their names all the time...and never ask them.

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