Picking a name has been extremely difficult. With Perrin, we were given focus for the name by knowing we wanted to use the letter "P" in memory of Neal's father. Now, we had a Chinese name, a few small photos, and not much else to guide us. Naturally, I had to research what the experts had to say.
With adopted children, it is important that the child feel connected to their heritage, but it is also important that the feel connected to their family.
We knew we wanted to use part of the Chinese name she had been given, Jia Qing Dong. But, we also knew that all babies from her orphanage share the last name Dong. We also knew that several babies found near the same time had a first name of Jia. So we decided to use Qing, the most unique part of her name.
At the same time, we knew that we wanted her first name to relate to a relative, just like Perrin's name. Jewish tradition is to name a child after a relative that is no longer living. We chose my grandmother, Louise. The first time Neal met Louise she told him, "Greenbergs make good babies" -- which I found mortifying since we had only been dating for a month, but Neal found endearing. Louise also means, "Warrior" which seemed fitting for both my grandmother and any child that could survive being abandoned. In keeping with Chinese tradition of never reusing a name (except in orphanages?), we switched Louise to Louisa (since my preferred name of, "Lulabelle" has already been used by several family goats).
We chose to keep the name quiet until after we met the baby on the off chance that she clearly was not a Louisa. But, Perrin has already take to publicly talking about "my sister, Lulu" so I guess it is out. I hope we satisfied family, Jewish, and Chinese traditions.
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