Names for "Lucy"

As we did with Alice, we have a picture of Lucy on the refrigerator (with Alice's picture alongside at her request :). Now and then I scribble name ideas on the mini white board next to her picture. I had 2 names which keep her Chinese first name Liu with Renee and Caroline as middle name options.

The fun part is when you just use the middle initial from either middle name with Liu you end up with interesting nicknames. Liu Renee becomes Liu R and sounds very similar to the Chinese name she prefers, LiuEr. Liu Caroline becomes Liu C or Lucy. Cute, clever, but not sure it's a great idea.

Renee was the name I finally settled on for Alice. We learned before travel that she already had been given the name Alice by a "sister" at the orphanage and she wanted to keep Alice. I was interested in adding Renee as a second middle name, but she vetoed that idea due to length.

Caroline was my favorite aunt's middle name and the first name that popped into my head when brainstorming names that start with C.

While we were in SC there were a few questions about Lucy's name. We explained to some that we might keep her Chinese name Liu. It turns out that Liu is difficult for several of the relatives, especially those with hearing problems to understand or pronounce. I have also started thinking it might be better to keep the same pattern we have for Alice's name. Alice assumed that would be the case and initially "decided" that Lucy's name was Lucy x-Liu, using both of Lucy's Chinese names. (Omitting full name for privacy reasons right now.)

[Reminder about Chinese naming patterns: In China the last name comes first followed by one or two names and each name is a single Chinese character. For Alice, her full Chinese name was Shui Qiu Wen, 水丘文. Shui was the name all girls entering the orphanage in 1999 received as their surname or family name. We opted to drop that part like many other adoptive families. Her name is Alice QiuWen, so she assumed that Lucy's name would follow the same pattern: Lucy x-Liu. Lucy doesn't have a 3 character Chinese name, so "x" is her surname.]

There are some good reasons to stick with the same pattern for Lucy that we have for Alice. First, it would maintain "equal treatment" for the 2 girls. Second, it would be easier for the grandparents to have an English name to learn and use. Third, having an English first name I think puts emphasis on her (new) American identity and eliminates 1 difference for her to deal with. Fourth, an English first name fits with the rest of the family. If I sign a card listing all the kids, or rattle off the list having 1 Chinese name in the mix, especially when we have 2 Chinese daughters just doesn't make sense. So, at this point, I am leaning heavily towards English first name, Chinese middle name.

When we get much closer to travel (after LOA/LSC for those who understand the process - sometime early fall hopefully) we will be able to ask Lucy what she would like from a very short list of first names. The current list of options is Lucy (a nickname she's already familiar with), Renee or Caroline. We will also ask what part of her Chinese name she wants to have as her middle name - her full name (x-Liu), only her first name (Liu), or her pet name (Liu Er). Like with Alice, we will play with the names and see what fits over time. Coming up with first name ideas for Alice was much more complicated than I anticipated so I expect brainstorming ideas for Lucy to be just as difficult. And in the end, like with Alice, Lucy may have a definite idea of what she wants. And at almost 14 years of age, we will let her have a say in the decision.

Update: After posting this we had a discussion at the dinner table and Alice had some suggestions, all of which are names similar to Alice. She thinks that she and her sister should have similar sounding names, like Alex, Ellie, or Ally. We nixed that idea, explaining that each of them is unique and having names so similar would not be good. We also tried to make a joke about how confusing it would be for the girls trying to figure out if we yelled for Alice or Alex! I have to admit that I was surprised that Alice had enough familiarity with western names to have some suggestions.