What's in a name?

When we met our son in Nanjing we learned how to pronounce his Chinese name. We did not have it quite right... the best phonetic spelling I can come up with is JaWin Koo-ah. It sounds best when he says it and he often corrects our pronounciation. His surname is Hua which is also the word for flower in Mandarin. While traveling with us in China he would often say his full name, Hua Jun Ke, when he introduced himself to people. He was given this name when he arrived at Nanjing SWI. We don't know what his name was in his first family and he has not told anyone as far as we can tell.

When we met him he had many questions for us which he asked through our agency facilitators. One of his first questions was "what will my American name be?" We were glad that he was able to discuss this with us through the interpretor. He did not have an American name in mind and when we suggested Allan, which is his Dad's name, he liked the idea. When we first came home he was still calling himself Jun Ke and so were we most of the time. This week I noticed he has begun telling people his name is Allan when he meets them!