Changing Child's Name

My 2 youngest changed their names completely. They were 8 and 7 and they picked out their names (although my youngest kept his bio middle name).

We got our precious kiddos last fall. We finalze adoption on May 5! :banana: We started calling our son who is three by his new first name along with his middle name. We have since transitioned to his first name only, although we did leave his first name his middle name. Our daughther is five. We waited a little while on this one and they one day God gave me the idea to tell her about some bible stories where God changed the names of people to signify their new life in him. :clap: So, we read those bible stories to our daughter and explained to her that she has a new "forever life" with us and we want to give her a special new name to celebrate it. She loved the idea. We gave her the name that we picked when we were trying to have a baby...Aubrey. She loves it and so do we. She learned how to spell it the first night! She is smart!!! :thankyou:

We got our precious kiddos last fall. We finalze adoption on May 5! :banana: We started calling our son who is three by his new first name along with his middle name. We have since transitioned to his first name only, although we did leave his first name his middle name. Our daughther is five. We waited a little while on this one and then one day God gave me the idea to tell her about some bible stories where God changed the names of people to signify their new life in him. :clap: So, we read those bible stories to our daughter and explained to her that she has a new "forever life" with us and we want to give her a special new name to celebrate it. She loved the idea. We gave her the name that we picked when we were trying to have a baby...Aubrey. She loves it and so do we. She learned how to spell it the first night! She is smart!!! :thankyou:

KitNicki That's a great way to do it with older kids who have a Bible base!! Will keep that in mind if we have older kids.

I have also wanted to know information on this. I am in Colorado and we are adopting 0-24 months from the foster care system. I do not know the legal actions we have to take to rename our child esp if he/she is under 12 months. Any advice on the steps it takes?

My daughter was a newborn when she came to me so no transition was needed. My son was 6 months old and it took him about a week to start reacting when I said his new name. For both, I just started using their new names exclusively (with caseworker permission) right from the start. They were both legal risk with TPR filed, but not yet granted. With my daugther, there was no birth parent involvement so it was easy. With my son, I had to remember to use his old name at parent visitation and there was an awkward moment or two when I slipped and called him by his new name in front of his birth parents, but I think I covered it well and they didn't notice. After being with me a few weeks, he stopped responding to his old name and I know this confused his birth parents at visitation, but they still never seemed to catch on that his name had been chanegd. I have a friend who adopted a 2.5 year old. She transitioned her to a new name by calling her by her old name + new name (i.e. Mary Beth) and then slowly dropping the old name. The child adjusted well. I probably would hesitate to change the name of a child much past 2.5 (unless the child requested it), but I know others here have done so successfully.

Thank for you info and advice!

The legal name change is all done as part of the adoption. There is a place in the paperwork where you list the child's new name and it becomes official once the adoption is finalized. You will get a new birth certificate with the child's new name a few months after finalization. You will have to also inform social security of the name change. I know some have been able to successfully change the name with social security by showing the adoption decree, but it is less hassle to just wait until you receive the new birth certificate.

Thank you so much for yoru information! Another question: How do i add info under my post? signature i guess it is called. I do not have an option in my UserCP :(

we did something similar. even if adoption is a given , we are not allowed to use new names until TPR is finalized. We changed our kiddos names when they were 3,4 and 7. they had been TPR'd for a year before the adoption was finalized,and we'd done the nickname/name change thing during that year.

We've wondered about this, too. Our 2 fd's (2 and 4) have the same name...exactly the same name, one letter difference. the 4yo is attached to hers, so we just leave it be, but call her by the middle name b/c that's what she requested when we met. Biomom calls her by the first name (also biomom's name) but she's told me that she doesn't like that, bc it's not her name. She has a nickname, but it's rediculous and we'll never transition to it. The 2yo is also called by a variation of her middle name - also at the request of the 4yo. When she started singing Scooby Doo all the time, I added Sue to the end of her name and sang it to the tune. She then became Suzy Q at home, and insists on being called that most of the time. We tell her it's just a nickname and explain what that is, but she likes it. I like the variation of her middle name, though, so we'll keep that and probably just add the other as a middle. Something has to be changed for them - having the same name is too confusing and I refuse to let either of them grow up with it spelled the way it is, if I have anything to do with it! Editing to add: It's extremely important to talk to SW about parent's behaviors and how they may feel even about a nickname. Our 2yo is clumsy, and I jokenly made the comment that she's fallen so much that we call her Miss Grace, and her mother hit the roof. I'd been told that she is mildly delayed, but not told that she didn't have the mental capacity to comprehend calling a person by a name that isn't there's for humor's sake. We had them for 2 weeks before I saw the kids' names in writing, so their name was mispelled (spelled the right way) on a bag and sippy cup, and we had another episode. *sigh*

We are in the process of adopting a 4 yr old. We gave her the option, we went through list and lists of names and she decided to keep her first name, which is so fitting for her and the situation but we are changing her middle name to honor a late family member. She loves it and tells everyone what her new name is.

I am glad I am not the only one with questions like that! I wondered too- I have a friend that fostered then adopted 2 newborns and both were abandoned at the hospital with no name- so she was able to call them by her chosen names from day one. I think with a child old enough to know the difference, I would let them choose (as long as they did't choose Frankenstein or something. Ha!But with a baby I was going to adopt I would want to choose the name. I also like the idea of using the birth parents given name as a middle name- if it is a good name. And by good I mean not after a car, alcoholic beverage or goofy celebrity. I have taught kids- and there are some really bizarre names out there! :)

We changed everybodies' names at the adoption, but worked on it prior to that. Our 11 yo chose her name from a book - we tried a bunch ''on'' first. The 5 yo we gave her 3 names to chose from, and the 2 yo, we just gave him the Spanish variation of his name. 8 years later, no probems:-)

our DD is 10 and we are changing her middle and last name <she wanted to have the same middle name as most of the women in my family> she wanted to change the whole name but i really like her first name. our DS will only change his last name he's 6