Dordt recently hosted Hug A Linguist Days. We had guest speakers and activities to highlight the work that linguists do. I found it all very interesting, but then again I took a bunch of classes in linguistics when I studied Teaching English as a Second Language so it was "right up my alley" so to speak. One of the speakers in the series mentioned the importance people attach to their given names. This got me thinking about naming in general, and the renaming of older adopted kids specifically.
When we adopted Maria, the task of naming her was pretty easy. Her given name was Maria, it's a name I've always liked, we never considered changing it. She did not, however, have a middle name. I've never had the chance to name a daughter so we generated a few middle name options and talked about it with the kids. Finally, we chose to give her my first name as her middle name. I've always liked my name and the two names sound nice together. It felt like we were giving her a name that was special to us as well as keeping her birth name. So, Maria became Maria Kathleen which we often shorten to Maria K, also known to her friends as Maria the Great.
Naming Jon Felipe was a little more complicated. His given name was Juan Felipe, but we were told that in the orphanage he was just called Felipe, never Juan. In discussing the name situation with our social worker, she told us that older children will often ask what their new parents will name them. So, we wanted to give him a name that was special from us, but we also wanted to respect the name his birth family gave him. We finally decided to name him Jonathan Felipe.
We really like the name Jonathan which means gift from God, something our Jonathan truly is. We call him Jon Felipe or just Felipe. He is very attached to the name Felipe and I think it would have been hard on him to lose this piece of his identity. His favorite music CD is one with Bible songs that puts his name, Felipe, into the songs. He listens to this over and over and over. I think he must also have some recollection of having been called Juan Felipe since Jon Felipe seems to feel familiar to him. He also really likes that the name Jonathan can be found in the Bible and the stories about David and Jonathan are currently his favorites.
What importance do you attach to your name? Would you change it if you could? My adopted children had been given lovely names at birth, which made our job so much easier. I've talked with people who have given their children entirely new names upon adoption and others who think it was wrong for us to change Jon Felipe's name at all. I'm pretty much in the camp of making those decisions on a situation specific basis. What would you do?
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Kathleen - I just found your blog again after having misplaced it for awhile. So happy to hear how things are going for you. I'll have to send a longer message soon with some updates.
ReplyDeleteAs far as names go, I was named after my Mom. As a young child I thought it was cool to have the same name. And, to differentiate between the two of us my Dad called me "Little Christine" which I loved. But, as I got older it did get a bit annoying to me. Phone calls were given to the wrong person, mail opened by each other, etc...
But, now that she is no longer here with me, I love that I have her name. I think of her often just when people refer to me. I can't imagine anything different and am very picky that people actually call me Christine not Chris or any other version.
Now that my Mom isn't here - I rarely am referred to as Little Christine anymore. But, once in awhile when my dad is telling a story with both my Mom and I in it, that name comes out. Love it every time.
What a great topic. I think hearing people thoughts about their names can help you get to know them so much better.
Have a wonderful day!
Thanks for your comment Christine. I had forgotten that you are named after your mom. How special that is. When Luk (pronounced Luke) Deng moved in with us, we already had a son named Luke. As a 6'8"tall refugee from Sudan and a junior in high school, Luk Deng became Big Luk and our son, who was only in elementary school at the time, became Little Luke. Little Luke is now over six feet tall and Big Luk now lives independent from us, but we still often call our son Little Luke. Good memories.
ReplyDeleteI was named after my mother's little cousin Marilyn and all the Marilyn's I know were born between about 1940-1950. Rarely does anyone spell it correctly; variations include Marylin, Maryland, Marolyn, Maralyn and Marlyn. Then Marilyn Monroe came along and ruined the image of the name, becoming a one name icon of sex appeal. I doubt it will ever become popular again, but then again who thought Olivia, Ava and Isabel would reappear.
ReplyDeleteIn Spanish class we are practicing dialogues. A recent one involved saying something along the lines of "My friend's name is ..." except in Spanish of course. I was the only to say that my friend's name is Marilyn. I never even thought of Marilyn Monroe. I hope no one thought I meant her.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about names that I think of as being "old fashioned" being popular again. I have several students with names that have come back in popularity. It always feels odd, though, when for example some young kid has the same name as my great uncle or some other person who seemed ancient when I was young.