Sunday, November 29, 2009

What's In a Name?

We've had a lot of discussion around the house recently about what Mercy's middle name will be. Before I had traveled to Ghana we discussed the idea of having her birthmother's name as her middle name as a way to honor her. However, when I discussed this idea with Mercy she reacted negatively. I think for now it might just be too painful for her.

We'd like to have a name that meant something special. Honestly, I know it's hard to pair anything with Salzwedel and have roll off the tongue. I'm hoping you can help me out with some good suggestions!

12 comments:

Amanda said...

Do you have a family name you'd like to carry on? Like a great grandmother you loved or something like that? That would be a really neat way to show your love for that family member and your commitment to Mercy :~)

I actually looked up ghana names and didn't find much. The only other things that popped in my head are:

Mercy Joy

Mercy Rain

Have fun :~)

Sean and Lisa said...

Mercy Love Salzwedel

Just perfect! LOL!

Sherri said...

I love the idea of Mercy Rain! His Mercy Reigns!

Kathy Eden said...

I would suggest praying to God about it & let him pick her middle name. That's what we did with Phoebe. He directed us to Starr (we decided on 2 r's instead of 1). We had no idea at the time what Phoebe meant but we named her Phoebe Starr & then found out that Phoebe means "shining or bright".

kayder1996 said...

I too think God will take care of it. Both of our kiddos will have their Haitian last names as their middle names. Kenson Jules and Conleigh Deme'. Conleigh's last name is really Dime' but we thought that it was likely to be pronounced dime so we changed the spelling.

And while I don't want to discount Mercy's feelings, there could be other reasons for her reacting negatively. Maybe she was confused by the thought of using her mother's name. Maybe she already has middle name that you don't know about. Maybe she is afraid of letting you down by hanging onto memories of her birth mom. At some point in time, she may be really proud to have her birth mom's name as her middle name. (Maybe, hard to tell.)

One other thought, have you had a key verse/verses through your adoption? Maybe there would be inspiration in there.

kayder1996 said...

I too think God will take care of it. Both of our kiddos will have their Haitian last names as their middle names. Kenson Jules and Conleigh Deme'. Conleigh's last name is really Dime' but we thought that it was likely to be pronounced dime so we changed the spelling.

And while I don't want to discount Mercy's feelings, there could be other reasons for her reacting negatively. Maybe she was confused by the thought of using her mother's name. Maybe she already has middle name that you don't know about. Maybe she is afraid of letting you down by hanging onto memories of her birth mom. At some point in time, she may be really proud to have her birth mom's name as her middle name. (Maybe, hard to tell.)

One other thought, have you had a key verse/verses through your adoption? Maybe there would be inspiration in there.

Sarah and Tim said...

Mercy Ann

livingpurereligion said...

How about Mercy Cara??? :)

Just wanted to stop by and tell you that I'm thinking about you! Each and every day, without fail, our entire family prays for "sista Mercy". Praying her home SOON!

Dawn S. said...

I like Hope or Grace as those, along with Mercy, are things you need to get through this process!

Annie said...

I know that I found out a lot about my children after adoption.... An instinct I had to have Sergei keep his patronymic (Russians use a version of the father's name as their middle name) was right on. He adored the man who died of TB tragically young. But this would have been a bad idea with the other kids...and who was to know?

My oldest son has no middle name. How about doing that? Simply Mercy. Later she can add whatever middle name is meaningful to her, if she wants to. Aidan likes not having a middle name as it is unique.

Christian said...

Mercy Christian! we have discussed this :)

Dr. Sarah said...

Stephanie,

This is interesting because we have the same issue with 'middle naming' our three. . .Emmanuel, Gideon and Patience since my husband's last name is Regennitter. . .

SJ