What's in a Name? Heritage...? Baggage...?

A current discussion in the adoption advocacy movement focuses on the significance of naming, particularly in the context of international adoptions. Advocates ask, “Would it be a benefit to an adoptee to carry an original name, or a name native to his/her country's language, with him/her to life in America?” The proposition raises many considerations.

When a Chinese child is placed in a white, American family, there is no denying- within the family or in the broader social context- that the child is not the adoptive parents’ progeny. Having a name from his/her country’s native language, some propose, would be an open and positive affirmation of the child’s heritage and could give the child some sense of connection to the past. Yet there are many ways that an adoptee could interpret, so to speak, having a “native” name. Fundamentally, an adoptee must negotiate the idea that he/she was “given up”, intentionally amputated from the family line. An international adoptee might feel that not only has he/she been rejected by a birthfamily but also by an entire culture, his or her ethnic family.

So while a native name might give an adoptee a sense of connection to his/her origins, it could also be a reminder of the scope of his/her “rejection”. A native name might additionally feel like a barrier to an adoptee, leaving him/her feeling not-fully-invited to assimilate into his/her adopted culture?

In the case of adoptions in same-race families, what might it mean to an adoptee to know that he/she carries a name given to him/her by birthparents? Is it a positive thing, like being in possession of a “truth”? Is it a bitter reminder of “not really belonging to” the adoptive family and also having been rejected by the birthfamily?

There probably aren’t any hard and fast answers. Every adoptee is an individual. And mixed feelings, mixed messages, play a prominent role in adoptee-life. It’s interesting to think about... Would I want to carry an original name into my adoptive life? What would that mean to me?

What would it mean to you, as an adoptee?