Birth parents have every right to name the child during the pregnancy and to keep that name in their hearts.  And that name will be reflected on the birth mother’s copy of the birth certificate.  In fact, most birth mothers do choose a name and refer to the baby by that name.

Although adoptive parents have a legal right to choose the name that will be on the final birth certificate, the trend now is for the birth parents and the adoptive parents to talk to each other about the baby’s name. Often the final name is something that everyone has discussed.

We see many adoptive parents choose one of the birth mother’s names for the baby’s final name, and we also see a lot of babies that are given a name that honors the birth mother or birth father – such as using a birth parents’ name as part of the final name.

I remember receiving my oldest son’s original birth certificate when he was three months old and realizing that his birthmother had chosen the name Joseph Anthony. How I wish I had known what she had chosen for him, because it would have been beautiful to give him that name! Sometimes when he looks at me, and I see her long eyelashes in his eyes and his full eyebrows, I think, “Joe Anthony, you are beautiful, just like she is!”

Do you have a story you’d like to tell?  Email us at blog.ach@foryourlife.com.  Visit us at www.AChildsHope.com, or call our Birth Mother Hotline at 1-877-890-HOPE (4976) so one of our adoption counselors can answer your questions confidentially.

Please remember that this is a public site open to anyone; therefore, anything you post can be seen by anyone.