From Evangeline to Tarikua

On January 4th, 2010 an infant girl who we had not yet met, who lived on the other side of the world, became our daughter.  Her name officially became Tarikua Daniel.  (The Ethiopian courts give the child, boy or girl, the adoptive father's first name as the child's middle name).  The following month we traveled to Ethiopia to meet her.

While in Ethiopia we fell in love with Tarikua... and with Ethiopia.  We strongly considered keeping Evie's first name as Tarikua, but we worried that people might have trouble pronouncing it.  So after we came home, and as she began to acclimate to life in America, we transitioned to calling her Evangeline (Evie).  We thought Tarikua would become her middle name.

Most adoptive parents we know have chosen to re-adopt their child through the US court system.  In most states, it's not something that you are required to do, but there are some advantages to doing it.  We recently were referred to a great adoption lawyer and decided to begin the process, which is, thankfully, rather simple.

Included in the readoption is the opportunity for a legal name change.  Right now, Evie is legally Tarikua Daniel.  Since adopting her over three years ago, our opinions have changed.  We now feel it's important for Evie to have a first name that identifies her with her Ethiopian heritage.  We love her Ethiopian name and it has such a beautiful meaning.  So we decided to change her name to Tarikua Evangeline.

When our niece, Ellyn, came to stay with us last May, we started calling Evie Tarikua.  My niece grew up in Thailand and hadn't spent a lot of time with us, so it was easy for her to get in the habit of calling her Tarikua, which was helpful to all of us.  When her family arrived from Thailand, they called her Tarikua as well.  They didn't miss a beat.  By then, we were all in the habit of it.

From there we started telling our friends locally. Evie/Tarikua isn't in a preschool program, so it seemed like great time to change her name.  Everyone has done so well with it!  Pronunciation hasn't been an issue at all.  It's pronounced Tar (not Ter)-EE-kwah.  Indigo has even given her a nickname already -Tia, which I think is super cute!

The only place I haven't been calling her Tarikua is here on my blog.  I was going to wait until our readoption was official to start calling her Tarikua here, but we haven't exactly been in a hurry on that front.

So when you see the name Tarikua, no, we don't have another child.   It's Tarikua, formerly known as Evie.