Nicki's questions in the comments section of the last post have been echoed by people in the 'real world', so I thought I'd do a clarification post.
We're calling Samuel by his Chinese name Jie-Jie. We pronounce it as 'Jay-Jay' even though the correct pronounciation is more like 'Jeeay-Jeeay'. We're not sure if and/or when we're going to 
switch over to calling him Samuel. We decided that his offical name will be 'Samuel Jay-Jay Lesperance' rather than our original thought of 'Samuel Liu Lesperance'. That gives us the option of calling him by his middle name, leaving 'Samuel' as his 'offical' name. In a few months, when he understands about both names, he can choose which name he wants other people to use. A few people suggested that we just register his name as 'Jay-Jay'. I like it as a kiddie name or a nickname, but I think it's too childish once he is an adult. If he works in pediatrics, 'Dr. Jay-Jay' would be great, but I'm not sure I'd take a heart surgeon or a lawyer very seriously if they had that name..... :-)
We called Eva by her Canadian name right from the very beginning mostly because she didn't respond to her Chinese name (we got the guide to try it too, so it wasn't due just to our terrible Chinese pronounciation). My guess is that her foster parents didn't address her as 'YiLin' very often. On Gotcha day we asked about Eva's nickname and the orphanage directress said that she was called 'Lin-Lin', but she didn't respond to that either. Since she wasn't living at the orphanage, I imagine that the directress wouldn't have really known what Eva's foster mom called her on a daily basis. On a more philosophical note, I think that because Eva was our first child we felt more of a need to claim her by giving her 'our' name. It hasn't seemed important with Jie-Jie. He's ours and we are entitled to raise him no matter what his name is.
Thanks for the questions. Keep 'em coming.
And by the way.....LURKERS! I know you're out there. I've spoken with some of you recently. 'I don't know how to post a comment' isn't flying with me!
8 comments:
My feelings are the same our first adoption Faith was only 12 months did not respond to any name but when we went the secons time Xui Ying (Miranda) is all she responded to we fell in love with her name and after all it was her identity, when you ask her what her name is she will tell you Miranda Xui Ying , so some days she wants to be called by one name on others both names , colette
It's funny, with Francis he was not used to his name (Andrei) because they called him by his baby name of Androoshka. Had we know in advance, we would have named him Andrew! Anyways, for a while we had to call him Francis-Andrei! With Naomi we went straight with the new name as she did not respond to FuMeng. But now her nickname is Nay-nay, go figure!! :o)
Lurk, lurk.
I don't know who Janet is but she is funny.
Thank you so much for answering this question. I'm quite honored to be mentioned in your post!
I love that last picture of you and your two darlings. They are both so serious - whatever they're looking at has their full attention.
I continue to covet your hair.
Nicki
I think it's great that you are using Jie-Jie's Chinese name. I often wonder what goes through the kid's mind when they have to switch names (again). And I often wonder what our daughter's very first name was...
We use our daughter's Chinese nickname, that's what she calls herself and she even recognizes that it is the same Mandarin word for "rain". She didn't learn her English name for maybe 9 months - I notice that we use her nickname within the family and with good friends, but with people we don't know very well we use her English name. We kept her entire "orphanage name" sandwiched between her new English given name and surname, which means she has four names and odd initials (CFQC). I wish now that I had done it differently, though, because I really wanted to include another middle name, named after my mother. But dh didn't want her to have five names....
Have you started the citizenship process already, or will you fall under the new rules where adopted children automatically receive citizenship?
I hope that with such a long post I can safely assume I am not a lurker??
:)
Sonya
Nicki,
I'll give you the grey ones!
Sonya,
You're off the Lurker List! We didn't receive automatic citizenship so we're in the process of doing all that. Joy, joy, more paperwork. Of course it is all worth it.
Dawn
Dawn,
I just love reading your blog. I meant to ask - how was Eva in China? Any jealousy with Jie-Jie?
Your writing from China was so sublime (other than the travel and weather) that it seems like a non-issue. (Gives me hope for our future plans.)
We thought of you last night! ;-)
Wanda
Hi - late lurker - I just think it's really cute that you mention him as an adult and the only possible options for a profession are pediatrician, heart surgeon or lawyer! Jay-Jay (or the shorter JJ) would be a perfectly respectable first name for.... a plumber, a video game designer, an actor, a musician, a chef, an architect, a hockey player, or, yes, a lawyer, neurosurgeon, astronaut, senator - it's all about attitude! Jie-Jie sounds fun!
Looks like you've got 2 gorgeous little babes!
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