News: Orphanage naming practices
A woman named Junie posted an interesting China Daily article called "Guang dropped as surname for Guangzhou orphans" on the Yahoo APC group this morning. It's an older article (from February), but the information was interesting to me because we're planning to use Funshine's given name as his/her middle name.
To quote part of the article (in case they archive it and the link stops working):
This is definitely something we'll keep in mind when choosing which part of Funshine's given name to keep.
To quote part of the article (in case they archive it and the link stops working):
Starting this year, Guangzhou's orphanage has stopped giving its wards the surname "Guang" to prevent them from being identified as orphans.
All children adopted by the orphanage are being given the surname "Li" this year, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily said yesterday. "Wang" will be used next year, followed by other Chinese surnames listed in the "Baijiaxing," a book of 100 common surnames.
Staff members of the orphanage said they would also try to think of unique names for each child, rather than middle names representing the location of orphanage, and a randomly picked given name.
With several hundred children living in the institute, and a small number of staff members, children are normally given the surname "Guang," representing Guangzhou, followed by one of several middle names, such as "Tian," "Bai," or "Li" which represent Tianhe, Baiyun and Liwan districts respectively.
The given names provided are "Yong," meaning bravery, or "Hong," meaning redness. Other given names often chosen are "Qiang," "Wen," "Ping," or "Cui" meaning strength, literacy, duckweed and green respectively.
These names often mark them out as having been residents of the orphanage, and are not good for their psychology when they try to interact with the outside world, the orphanage has found.
This is definitely something we'll keep in mind when choosing which part of Funshine's given name to keep.
posted by M3 at 8:33 AM
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11 Comments:
I think that the naming practices are different from province to province as well as different orphanages. I know that in Wuwei orphanage in Gansu Province, where Katie Starr is from, that her given name of Wu Hong Shan breaks down to be Wu for the orphanage, Hong is a name that she shares with about 50 or so of her Wuwei siters and they change it periodically and it means grand and extensive and shan is he unique name. We were told that it meant pretty by her orphanage although the literal tranlation is lithe and depricate. We named her Katie Starr Hongshan. With her last name it is quite a handle but then again she quite the girl :)
Lori
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Life with JJ, Starr and Spice, at 9:08 AM
A question - do we have to definitely decide on our child's name before we leave? Before we have a chance to ask anyone questions about her given name?
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Anonymous, at 10:55 AM
Thanks for the info. That is interesting.
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Wendy, at 11:17 AM
Interesting ....we have talked about keeping part of our daughters chinese name as her middle name. Now I am not so sure. Maybe I can find a Chinese name that suits her that we give her?? Anyone know of any good resources out there?
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TBG Happenings, at 6:55 PM
I've heard this but I really appreciate you sharing this article to clarify. I never go on the APC anymore, too busy with Dragonflies and blogs.
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Christi and Abbey, at 7:44 PM
Hi. I've been lurking a bit on your blog. It makes for good reading especially since I have a couple of friends who are on the adoption path to China. I too am an adoptive parent but not from China. I have wanted to ask a question, not just of you specifically, but anyone adopting from China, and that is, why does everyone change their child's first name? I'm sure 'everyone' doesn't but I haven't come across anyone who has. I'm really curious. If anyone can throw some light on this, I'd love to hear.
The best of luck with your adoption. I hope that it happens a.s.a.p. It is truly a profound journey. For everyone.
Cheers,
C
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Anonymous, at 9:51 PM
Hi C,
Good question. I'd guess that people come at it for different reasons. Some possible reasons might be (guessing here):
- people have been doing it this way for so long that it's expected and no one questions it
- want to give some part of yourself to the child since you weren't part of the birth
- don't want your child to be made fun of in school for an unpronounceable name
- have always dreamed of your child with that name
- it's the one part of the adoption process you can control
- the Chinese name is frequently used for the child's middle name so she has a choice of which one to use later on in life
- a perception that the orphanage name might have been chosen hastily or without great thought or love behind it
I don't know, those are a few guesses. I've never asked anyone their reasons and would love to hear what other people think. It's pretty late at night and my brain is probably missing a whole bunch of obvious reasons.
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M3, at 10:40 PM
Hi Mary Mia. Thanks for responding. I should delurk, be courteous and say my name is Carolyn although I don't want to put my email address out there.
I sort of figured on all those reasons and they do make sense. We didn't change our kid's names. We decided that it was the only thing they owned. We did give each of our children their middle names (which, of course was meaningful to us and fun)and they have our surname. We didn't know if their birth mothers had given the name, if it was the director of the orphanage, a nurse or an official but...we kept coming back to 'this is all they have', this is on all the initial paperwork. Through your blog I've been browsing other adopting parents' blogs and I read all these beautiful Chinese names. I remember the first time I heard my daughter's name. I thought, wow I would never have thought of that name. Not in a zillion years. It's not a difficult name to say (once you know how) but it is unusual. I rolled her name around my mouth and head for weeks (before we met her) and soon I was singing it. My son's name was even more distinctive but by this time I had well and truly embraced the idea that this is what belongs to them at the very beginning.
I'm sorry if I have taken up too much space or time or if I have come across as pontificating but I have been troubled.
Thanks again for your blog. I like to read.
Cheers,
Carolyn.
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Anonymous, at 1:50 AM
Hi Carolyn, you're welcome! :-) When I started typing that last night I was thinking that there are also many reasons why people don't change their child's name. And the one you mentioned "it was the only thing they owned" is the main one I've heard mentioned. I've also heard people say they want to preserve their child's culture and don't feel they should Americanize the name. Anyhow, by the time I got to the end of the list my tired brain forgot to add that note. I'd still love to hear from anyone else on which way they chose and why - very interesting discussion and I'm sure there are a million reasons out there I didn't mention (especially since I haven't had the honor of naming a child yet).
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M3, at 6:49 AM
C and M-3,
That is a really interesting discution. Dan and I were TOTALY set on naming our princess Isobel and even had our blog set up as Our Journey to Isobel. We weren't going to keep any of her Chinese name. But from the moment we saw those eyes looking at us in her referral, I knew her name was LiLi. She has a bit of a different story behind her name because of her orphanage story, which begins at the SWI in Guiping and then moves to a Mother's Love in Nanning, Guangxi AR. He name on the referral was Jin, LiLi. the surname in her case was changed to Jin to reflect that she was from Guiping, and her name was changed to LiLi by one of the nannies at ML. Most the girls at ML have very common name that blend well into Chinese society. It is a small private orphanage that only has SN children.
At the time I got her referral picture (she was SN so we actually picked her)I was in a MPA program with 40 Chinese students who translated LiLi for me as meaning lovely and beautiful to look at. Could the be any other name? She is now LiLi Maura. We almost kept her full name and which would have been LiLi Jin Layden, but I wanted to give her an english name so that if she ever wants to be considered more American than Chinese, she has that option. Reading this make me think of Shakespeare:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."
Finally, and I will quit rambling, my LiLI has a large PWS on her face and that is possibly one of the reasons she was left at the door of the middle school. She is the most beautiful child, and her name is perfect :-)
I hope that Funshine's name expresses all that he/she is and will be - perfect!
Debbie - sorry about the spelling messing up your blog ;-(
Thanks for letting me add to this -Debbie
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Pixel Fairy Princess, at 6:00 PM
That is such a beautiful story, Debbie. We found out this year, after finally finding a way of making contact with our children's birth mums (another huge story) that our children were named by them. The absolute joy and contentment this gave our children, their birth mums and...us was and is still difficult to articulate. Not changing their names was a way for us to respect our children's cultural heritage but also, as it turns out, a huge way of paying respect to the two women who helped give them life. It is an intangible link to their birth history. Also, at the ages our children are currently- where they are cognisent and articulating their losses and grief regarding being international adoptees-owning their name has been a very positive thing. I hope that other new a-ps might consider the positive affects of retaining their children's first birth name. It is usually a great source of pride and helps create/forge a sense of belonging not just to their adopted family and country but to their country of birth.
Thanks M3 for allowing this discussion to happen on your blog.
Cheers,
carolyn
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Anonymous, at 7:31 PM
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