Respecting names: Ethiopian transnational adoptee name changes, retention and reclamation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although changing, retaining, or reclaiming names can be powerful statements, there is a confounding lack of research concerning naming practices in transnational adoption. Drawing from 40 in-depth interviews with adult Ethiopian-origin adoptees from North America, Europe and Australia, this paper examines how the personal names of transnational adoptees can be used to displace from and alternatively reconnect with home cultures. More specifically, transnational adoptees discuss the loss, retention, and reclamation of original ethnic names through the lens of ethno-racial respect and culture keeping. Moreover, studying Ethiopian adoptees, who typically differ from their adoptive parents in ethnicity, birth nationality and/or racialized identity, will elucidate how an immigrant background and a Black racial identity plays a factor in adoptee naming experiences. Therefore, this paper positions the naming practices of Ethiopian transnational adoptees within the sizable literature on immigrant and African American names.