As we waited for our newest daughters to come home, we did a lot of thinking about their names. Since they are older girls, we decided we'd really like to keep their Ethiopian names as their first names. After all, they've had the names for a decade each, more or less. It seemed rather presumptuous to bring them home and start immediately calling them something else.

However, we did think we might like to choose them each a middle name that is more Americanized, so that they might have another legal name to use at some point if they chose to. We tossed around lots of ideas. But again, since the girls are older, it really seemed like they should have input regarding even the middle names we chose. So we decided to wait until they came to America to discuss it with them.

Our older Ethiopian daughter has a Bible name that is fairly common in the U.S. and it is one she likes well. Another neat thing we learned is that the nickname people call her in Ethiopia is actually a shorter version of one of the names we were thinking of using as a middle name anyway. So that name seems like a logical choice for her middle name.

The name decision is more complicated for our younger daughter. We learned that the name she has been using for the past few years is not the name her mother gave her at birth, and she actually likes her original name better than her current one. However, she told us the other evening that she would like an American name too-- but as a first name, not a middle name.

We are currently hashing out our options. Do we use her current Ethiopian name (the one everyone is used to calling her) or her old (harder-to-pronounce) one? Do we use it as a first or a middle name? Then which American name do we pick, and do we use it instead of her Ethiopian name? I am so used to calling her by her Ethiopian name that I can't quite wrap my mind about giving her an American name as a first name and then not using her Ethiopian name. But in talking with her, it seems that is what she would prefer.

To make it even more complicated, she expresses absolutely no preference about WHICH American name to use, as long as it is 'American'. She tells me I should choose, just like I chose with the other kids. Oh, my....it kind of makes my head hurt...I have decided it is much easier to name a baby!

Related links
Naming your child, part one
Naming your child, part two
Baby naming trends