10 Reasons Adoptive Parents Shouldn't Change Their Child's Name

10 Reasons Adoptive Parents Shouldn't Change Their Child's Name

I'm unsettled when adoptive parents change their child's name from their originally given name. So much is unknown; so much is unrecoverable. Can't you let that remain intact?

For my kiddos, here are 10 reasons why your father and I didn't do it (and never would).

1. It's your name. 

2. It's one of the first things that was given to you. 

3. It's not ours to take away.

4. It may have been spoken to you in the womb. It may have been one of the first words you ever heard.

5. It was specifically chosen. For you. It was chosen for a reason, and even if you or I don't know the reason, the reason exists.

6. It's a connection to your roots. Maybe you were named after a relative. Maybe after a character in a book or a teacher or a childhood friend. Maybe you'll never know, but it's a connection.

7.  It's what your first mother calls you when she thinks about you. 

8. It's what your first father calls you when he thinks about you.

9. It tells you something about your first parents. It reveals something about their culture, their tastes, their sense of humor, the music they listened to... something.

10. When/if you reunite, I want your first mother/father to know that we didn't erase them.