Renaming in Adoption: Exploring Name Ambivalence in Adoptive Parents' Name Stories

ABSTRACT Names are central to identity, yet their role in adoption, where identity and family dynamics are complex, remains under‐researched. This article draws on findings from a qualitative study of names and adoption in England and Wales to examine adoptive parents' decisions about the first names of their children. Despite policy, which advocates the retention of a child's birth name, we found that half of the adopter participants' children had had their first names altered. Our data show that adopters' decisions about renaming their children were imbued with mixed emotions and reflected ‘name ambivalence’—the coexistence of conflicting feelings about birth names and a desire to change them. We examine this ambivalence through four elements: compromising, rationalising, minimising and acceptance. Through this analysis, we offer insight into the complex interplay between names, identity and adoptive family dynamics and consider implications for policy.