We have a name!

Adam and I love thinking of baby names. We really enjoyed it with the boys, and we enjoyed doing it again this time. Over the past few months we have made a list of about 15 names that we really liked. One of the first names on the list was "Allie". This was also at the top of our list when we were pregnant with the boys (before we knew they were boys).

This time, we have a few other names in high competition with "Allie", so we wanted to wait and see our daughter before finalizing a name. However once we saw her photos our decision was easy. Our daughter's first name is "Alemitu". The way it was pronounced to us was "all--eee-me-too". So picking the name "Allie" out of the list was a pretty easy decision to make!

Our daughter's full name will be Allie (Ethiopian family's last name) Fischer. Her Ethiopian family's last name is pretty, but I just can't post her full name on this blog until we have passed court.

Changing her name was a tough decision even though it is pretty much expected with international adoptions. We want to preserve her background and cultural, but we don't want to single her out either. Changing her name completely seemed like we may be trying to erase her past, but on the other hand, to have her go through this life, in America, with the name "Alemitu" could also be cruel. Every single day of her life, she would have to repeat her name so people could understand it. We fear that she would feel singled out when she was in school. We also fear that she may be discriminated against when submitting a resume if the interviewer can't pronounce her name. I could go on and on listing more issues that she would come across daily.

To us, it seems like the every day issues she would have with her Ethiopian name outweigh the few times in her life that she may regret having her name changed. And when she is older, if she ever desires to have her Ethiopian name, we would not hesitate to take her to the courthouse to get it changed.

We hope that she will grow to love her name "Allie" and that she will take pride in keeping her family's last name as her middle name.