Adoptees: did your adoptive parents changed your name?

Question

Mine did. My name was Yleana..i mean, that was the name i had while i was in the orphanage.

Answer 1

Mine changed my name.   I was adopted very young, at six weeks, so almost a newborn and so I guess they wanted to be able to name me as if I was their own.  Funnily enough, I have never thought to actually ask them why they changed it, I just assumed that was what was done when you adopt.

Six years ago, I got hold of my original birth certificate with my original name and it was like a thunderbolt.  It had just never occurred to me that I would have another name (dumb I now realise).  It now feels like I have another identity as well as another name, and to be honest I am unsure how I feel knowing that someone out there (someone so important) calls me something else and doesn't know me by the name I go by.

Incidentally my original middle name was 'Joy', and it gives me reassurance to know that for my birth mother, she could find joy in me.

Answer 2

Yeah, they changed my first name, but kept my middle name. I had issues with it when I was younger, but I'm ok now. I like my current name now.

My brother's first name became his middle name, and he got a new first name.

Answer 3

yeah, but they kept my middle name, which is my birth name.

Answer 4

My birth mother didn't bother to name me.

Answer 5

my parents changed the first letter of my name and that was it.

Answer 6

Yes, my name was changed when I was four

It was Sierra Ashley V.

Now its Ciara (c-r-uh) Anjelica R.

But i wanted my names to be pronounced the same so i pronounce my name "sierra" and spell it c-i-a-r-a...

Answer 7

My parents kept my given name

I'd just like to say for the people named baby boy or baby girl on the documentation, it was very rare for a mother not to name her baby - despite it not being documented, they almost always gave you a name

Answer 8

They did change my name.  According to my adoptive mom, they were not told the name I was given at birth by my first mom.  

And yet, my original first name became my middle name.  That seems like a strange coincidence.  But perhaps that's all it is.

Answer 9

I went from "the minor child Jeffrey" to "Paul Andrew C_____"

When I joined the cast of my local Renn Faire and started playing a pyrate there, i named the character I play "Jeffrey Tanner" in tribute to my birth identity.

Answer 10

We're adoptive parents & we changed the girls' names.

They were 7 & 10 at the time.  We weren't planning on changing their names.  We loved their names...besides the fact that they were losing so much (at an older age) and we didn't want them to lose their "identity" too.

We found out about five minutes before we met them that they thought their names were "old lady names" and wanted us to change them.  We worked through a translator and explained that when we re-adopted them in the US (about 6 months later) that we would revisit the issue & if they still felt the same then we would do that.

When we re-adopted them, they did still feel the same.  We came up with a list of names that were very similar to their birth names (we didn't want them to regret a radical change later).  We allowed them to choose their new first names.  When we re-adopted them, we changed their names to their newly chosen ones.

Answer 11

I was removed from my abusive home at the age of 4 and the adoption was finalized when I was 7.   The only thing my parents changed was my last name.  However, I wish they would have changed my first name too.  We've since talked about it and they never considered changing my name because they felt that it would upset me.  Personally, because of the nightmare I lived, I would have loved to have had my name changed when I was "saved" but at least getting a new last name helped me some.

Answer 12

My parents kept my first name and dropped the middle name. My mom said she liked it as it was close to her name.

Answer 13

Yes, but they said they did not know my birth name, although I was 7 months old when they adopted me...I still find that hard to believe as the adoption agency knew my birth name.

Answer 14

They gave me my name, I had no name, i was just baby girl surname.  For sevearl weeks they just called me Precious in till FCS told them they had to give me a name.

Answer 15

Yes, and I'm changing it back soon :)

Answer 16

no. we kept it...

i am Ukrainian, and was adopted by a Ukrainian family... so it made sense to keep it.

although i guess i was called Andy for a bit....so i dunno... i think Andy might have just been a nickname

Answer 17

Mine was An hye In and now it is Sarah-Mae but...

they kept An in my name i like it

Answer 18

I dont know if my birthmother named me or not but I was an infant when I was adopted so I dont think it matters. I could imagin it would be much more difficult for an older child.