Naming Your Child

I just read a blog that prompted me to write this.  It is something that is near & dear to the hearts of all parents and perhaps somehow more special to adoptive parents because it's not only something we thought we would never be able to do but something that maybe we feel we don't have a right to do.  On a personal note, the whole name change idea is something we struggled with for a very long time.  And don't get me started on other people giving you their opinion of the names you choose.  We have given our son a new name and we are keeping his given name as a middle name.  Our sons name will be Addis Yonatan.  It wasn't until after we came to this conclusion that I discovered the meaning of the names and now I'm more convinced then ever that we should keep the names exactly as they are.  Yonatan means Given by God and Addis means New.  His name translated loosley is newly given by God.  I'm not an overly religious person (I don't have strong opinions one way or the other - mostly still trying to find my way and open to others opinions, but that's neither here nor there at this moment) but that had a very profound effect on me.  Back in January we had the opportunity to attend a seminar with 3 adult adoptees on the panel and they had some interesting comments on the subject or naming adoptees.  All we in favour of a new Western name.  These particular adoptees were from Vietnam (2) and Korea (1).  Only one of the adoptees had the personal information of what their given name was and this individuals parents decided to use it as a middle name.  The other two came from circumstances where this information was not available.  During the question & answer period my husband asked if they were happy their names had been changed and did thye feel their names were "stolen" from them.  They all agreed that thye were happy to have Western names as it made them feel as though they belonged.  The one person who had their given name as their middle name said that they were happy to have both and the choice as they got older which one they wanted to use.  This is exactly what Brian & I are choosing to do.  Our son can decide what he wants to be called.  We didn't want to "steal" his identity.  This is a very hot button issue in the adoption community.  I feel it is every parents right to want to choose names for their children.  We would be able to if we had given birth.  However, given the circumstances in which we became parents, we do have a responsibility to be sensitive to our children and give them some say in their identity.  Totally my two cents, certainly not the final say.