Today's post is about names. I've been having second thoughts about an African name, afterall, this child will be African in many ways, but also Jewish, and, of course, Steven-ish. Does the name matter? Should it reflect these things? My name has little to do with my heritage or place of origin, nor do those of my siblings (except the one who was conceived in England). But somehow giving this child a purely Jewish name (Josiah, Avi, Jeremiah, Aaron) seems to be avoiding the truth of his heritage to me.
I'm sure this is just the first of many landmines I will encounter raising a child of a different race. Who is he? How will he identify himself? By his name? By his skin color? By his family? His community? By the way people perceive him? Unlike some adopted african-american kids, this kid really IS African (his mother was born in Kenya, his father lives in Nigeria). Does this matter?
Maybe I'm being too neurotic about this. Maybe a name is just a name. But Kwame seems different from Kevin. Billy is not the same as Babatunde.
Of course, I have to wait to see who he looks like, but it's hard not to want to call him something in my mind.
Maybe some of you have some wisdom about this...
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1 comment:
Ooh! I have wisdom, I have wisdom! (It's possible it's just experience.) I'll send you email.
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