Could you adopt a Chardonnay?

[B00]

http://www.dailymail....ystal-Chardonnay.html

Was reading this earlier, and I'd like to say that if ever I was serious about adopting a child, I wouldn't let a simple thing like their name prevent me from thinking about it. But after reading the horrific examples of Gemma-Mai, Courtney-Mai, Alexia-Mai, Lily-Mai, Shania-Rae further down the page, the snob in me came rushing to the fore and thought, "no no NO, I couldn't have a child of mine called that". It really is a social stigma isn't it being landed with a name so bad?

What's the solution? Going back to the days where the birth parents had no say in the upbringing of their child, therefore no say in their names?" Getting over our inbred snobbery for such names and thinking " a child, is a child, is a child" no matter what name they've been dumped with?

[cathfromsaron]

hypothetically, if an ornate name would put you off then maybe that person would not be 'adopting' material!

but i would change/amend the name to suit the new environment anyway! so chardonnay could become charlotte, for instance!

cath x

[woofgang]

I am not saying that the promise should be reneged upon, I am pointing out that even though it seems crazy and unacceptable, there might have been a good reason for making it.

I am not sure what the "middle class" schools are like round your way but here in (posh) Hampshire I can assure you that the children are not all called "Harry, Tarquin, Darcy and Gwynneth"! Most middle class children of my acquaintance go to quite ordinary state schools and meet other children with all manner of different names including (gasp) foreign ones!
BOO, you say that you are just opening it to debate but you do seem to have quite a strong opinion on the subject yourself.......

[ChocolatChip]

I'd also like to point out that there is a significant interaction between a name and job prospects. I went and looked for research on the University online library :)

[woofgang]

And as i have said before, the child is not a dog and if he/she is of an age to know what their name is then i wouldn't even consider changing it.

[cathfromsaron]

apologies for repeating your earlier point chocolate chip!

cath x

[NOX]

I've not attacked you Boo, that was my point, we have very differing opinions, but I have not personally attacked you.
It's pure fine to be a snob if that's what floats your boat, but how would you feel if someone said to you ' Oh you shouldn't be allowed to adopt because you work on a checkout- and that would hold a child back to have a mother with such a working class job'. I bet you'd be ( rightly) incandescent with rage, I know I would- that's why I have issues with snobbery of any type- lines get blurred, and common sense falls to the gutter.

[ChocolatChip]

Woofgang, I assure you. I live in Warwickshire and I know all children with those names who go to private schools (I have worked in a private school and 'posh' area play groups)!

[woofgang]

Posh yes, middle class no.

[ummmm]

Seriously B00, what have you got to be snobby about?

I'm not knocking you, honestly, but you often complain about the 'type' of person that lives in your area, or shops in your co-op.....

[ChocolatChip]

I'm quite confused woofgang? I really don't understand, as you were the one who first commented about 'posh' and middle class. I only wrote about private schools, you don't have to be middle class to go to private school, no. But it helps!

[woofgang]

I am saying that the vast majority of middle class children DO NOT go to private schools even here in posh end Hampshire and in the state schools that they do go to, they will meet kids with far more unusual names than Chardonnay. I would guess that the majority of adoptive parents would not be expecting to send the child to private school either.

[NOX]

You'll find chocolate chip that genuinely upper class people ( by that I mean people from 'old' families with titles or 'old' money) won't give a rat's a7se what your name is or your accent is like ( I am living proof of that coming from Belfast), it's the ' new money' wanna be something special, social climbing types that live on what they think are ' exclusive estates' or in ' tasteful mews complexes'. These are the people who will care, no-one else will give a damn.

[boxtops]

If the child is old enough, ask THEM what they want to be called!

[woofgang]

New Forest, where the millionaires live.

[B00]

That's fine boxxy, but legally and on any paperwork, including school records they'd still be known by their given birth names.

Not quite how the adoption process works Noxxy, my job could very well be held against me? I don't know. Think the fact I smoke would be more of a problem for them though :-)

[woofgang]

again Toes, you are talking about private school. I am willing to bet that most parents who adopt are not from the monied classes, and "what they will think at Bedales" wont enter into their equasion at all.

[anneasquith]

if prospective parents are lucky enough to be offered a child to adopt, their birth name should be of no consequence at all. IMO