What's In a Name?

Mr. Shakespeare asked. Good question. Over the past year, while we've been waiting for a referral, Dave and I have spent considerable time thinking of a name for our daughter. We did the usual long list of names we both liked (OK, it was actually a short list). After trying out a number of them, we settled on Jenny.

Why "Jenny"? Well, first of all, we wanted to give her a name that we both thought was pretty.

I also wanted to pick a name that might sound at least a little familiar to a small child who only knows the sounds of the chinese language. From our limited bit of study of mandarin (yes, it's been a busy year), we know that the "juh" sound is common in chinese. We also know women from China named "Jenny", "Junji" and "Jinshil," so Jenny fit that requirement nicely. We plan to use our daughter's chinese given name as her middle name, and to call her by both names when we first come home.

What's in a name? A good bit. Identity, for example, including cultural identity. These days many if not most parents who adopt from other countries try to keep a part of their child's original given name as a link to their language and country of origin. We think that's important, and so we are following suit and keeping that link to her past.

And her last name? Well, that's still under some consideration--we're thinking of something hyphenated, which will come as no surprise to our families and friends. After all, I've kept my own last name. But whether she's a Westman-Rankin, or just a Rankin, she will still and always be ours together. And maybe having an odd middle name and being part of an odd looking family is enough to ask of one little girl for a lifetime.