If you've been following the Gardiner's adoption blog Dearest Dema you may have read about how dearest Dema became dearest Alex. Part of adopting children into your family means updating their name. That may mean just updating the last name to match the new family's name. It is also the case that the first name may be changed and that the child depending on their age may have some input into the matter. For us the boys keep their first names. My understanding is that in Russia and at least this part of Ukraine people do not have middle names. Instead a patronymic is given (thanks to Sasha for this English lesson) which is the father's name with a 'son of' ending. This ending is usually a sort of sounding '-ovich' for boys and '-ovna' for girls with the father's name as the prefix. Anyway as soon to be Americans we have decided to give both boys middle names and the whole intro about the patronymic is that Sergei will have Kevin as his middle name.
We showed him our plan on paper and he seemed very happy with the idea - so we will stick with it. Our Sergei Kevinevich will be Sergei Kevin Radzinski (Сергей Кевин Радзински) meaning he will be able to have a Russian style patronymic and an American style middle name all in one.
Maksym will get Stoker for a middle name for Grandma Buchmiller and her family name – her parents adopted her and she has been instrumental in getting us over here.
Love the names! Our Sasha's "middle" name, or really patronymic name, is Denysovich, after his father. I like how you explained it. It took my family and friends awhile to understand. It's fun to read about your adventures there and all that you are experiencing!
ReplyDeleteThis is so wonderful, you guys! What an honor to have Sergei excited about taking on Kevin's name. It shows what love and respect he already has for his new dad. And what a wonderful way to honor your grandmother, too! I just realized that this is the first real opportunity Kevin has had to have a child take on his name...with just those cute girls around, it wouldn't be easy to make that work. Hooray for your new sons! :)
ReplyDeleteMy eyes are filled with tears. I'm so happy for you. Love you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mom - love you.
DeleteThanks for the comments and following along - it is good for us to hear back from you all. Apologies to the person's comment that I incorrectly erased when reposting this yesterday. I that there was a comment, moved the post under my name and then the comment was gone.
ReplyDeleteWe played some basketball on the 'court' yesterday - more on that later.