Snow has a new name!

So far, she's been known as:

• Dang Xue
• Xue
• Mei-Mei
• Snow
• The Little One
• ...and on, and on

 But now, we are pleased to announce that we have actually decided on a name for this child!

Her name will be:

FIONA XUELAN DODGE

So, yay!  We actually managed to name another child without resorting to pistols at dawn.  

As always, we picked a name with a great deal of significance for us.  

Fiona is an Irish name that means "fair" or "white".  You just don't get whiter than this little girl, so it's very appropriate.  

Now, before I go any further, let me get one thing out of the way:

Think more of this...

Less of this...

  The name Fiona also fits in well in a couple other ways.  We have an alphabet thing going on with the kids' names (and by "we", I mean Lashi).  We are on "F" now.  More importantly though (in my opinion) is that all of the adopted children in my family get Irish names, regardless of our ethnic background.  Hence, I am a French Erin Colleen (my name literally means "Irish Girl").  

XueLan (pronounced "Shway-lahn") was a fun one to come up with.  Her given name (given by the orphanage) is Dang Xue.  Dang is, as we understand it, the surname given to all of the children in that orphanage.  Xue means "snow" and is a very popular name for children with albinism.  The other popular name for Chinese kids with albinism is Bai ("white").  We wanted Xue to be part of her name - both because it's so apt and because we want her to keep part of her old life in her new life.  

We used Lashi's Chinese dictionary app and looked up meanings of words that we thought might go nicely with "Snow".  Blossom, flower, jade, pearl, etc.  We were looking for a name whose meaning suggested her beauty and worth.  She's our little white flower, and more precious than jade.  Some words in Chinese had a good meaning but just didn't sound good with Xue or sounded too close to English words that had a less-than-elegant meaning. (think "doo" or "fang" and so on)

So, we picked our favorite, the one that sounded the best to our American ears and had a meaning that we like.  XueLan - Snow Orchid.  

Beautiful, Snow-white Orchids

Interestingly enough, I was looking at my wedding album, and it turns out I carried white orchids in my bouquet. 

See ^^ White roses, WHITE ORCHIDS, and... those other little white flowers.  Dunno, kissing Lashi - can't talk flowers.

So, there you have it.  Fiona XueLan Dodge. 

Also, we looked up the characters for Xue and Lan and confirmed them with a sweet gal at CCAI, just to be sure.  She sent us a copy of them in 3 "fonts". 

So this says (reading each line left to right): Snow Orchid, Snow Orchid, Snow Orchid :)

Now all we have to do is get her home and teach her her new name.  :)  Oh adventures!

What if...

What if every one of my ethnic origins was visually apparent?

What if German looked strikingly different from Swedish?

What if everyone who passed me noticed that I was French?

What would they think?

Would they stare?

Would they ask me where I was from?

Would they eavesdrop eagerly when I talk to my children

listening for traces of an accent?

Would they watch me to see

how Irish mothers treat their children?

If I chose an unhealthy treat, would they assume

that's just what Czech people eat?

If I was having a bad day, would they assume

that Norwegian lady doesn't like American people?

If my origins were obvious, if I had Danish skin

or Scottish hair

or Austrian eyes

Would I worry about people's staring?

Would I dread their questions and comments?

Would I tire of representing everyone who shares my ancestry?


 

I recently completed a parent training course for our adoption about being a multicultural family.  The class gave me a lot of food for thought.  I like to think that I'm a pretty unbiased person and open and free of prejudices, but it has been interesting and sobering to examine my own thought patterns regarding people who are different in some way.  I've been more aware of my thoughts recently - how I think about people, what mental questions I ask myself about them, etc.  Today, while shopping at the Asian market, I noticed I had more of those same thoughts about the people I saw: "Where are they from?" "How long have they been here in the US?"  "What do they think of me as a 'white girl' shopping at 'their' market?"  "Are all Asians this quiet?  Dang, that makes my kids look noisy."  I thought about how biased, how unfair, but at the same time how naturally these questions and thoughts come.  Food for thought.

I welcome comments and the experiences of people who have experienced something like this.