What's in a name?

A lot, apparently - because we can't decide what to name our daughter and it's starting to drive me (and some of our friends and family members) nuts.  So far we have decided that we will probably keep both of her Chinese given names (San Ping) as a middle name, written "Sanping".  "San" is written with the Chinese character for "three" and pronouced "sahn", and "Ping" is written with a character for "peaceful" - as in "level" or "smooth" - and pronounced "pyung" with a rising tone, like a question to our American ears.  (It's important to know which Chinese characters are used in her name, because the phonetic spelling of a Chinese word - a system known as "pinyin" - can actually represent more than one Chinese character, and therefore have different meanings.)  We've asked some Mandarin speakers (one of whom is a native speaker) whether "San Ping" has any particular meaning when used together, since the use of the number "three" in a name seemed rather mysterious to us.  As it turns out, there isn't any special meaning for the two characters used together, but we've decided to keep both anyway.  The names are a part of her history, and she did turn out to be our third child, so in that sense it was meant to be.  :)  "Hu" is a surname that she was given, and although we will share her full Chinese name with her we will not incorporate the surname into her legal American name.  This is pretty typical among families who have adopted from China.

So we do have an English middle name and a Chinese middle name (she'll have both), but we're still negotiating on an English first name.  We will have to let our agency know prior to our trip, because there is some paperwork that will require her American name and we can't make any changes after that.  It's good to have a deadline, because we named both boys after they were born and I think this could drag on indefinitely if we  were left to our own devices.  I will admit to having gotten my first choice with both boys' names - probably a result of the "sympathy vote" following two long labors and two unplanned c-sections.  That's obviously not going to be a factor this time (I don't think paper cuts and long waits in various government offices really count).

I do hope we can decide soon.  It would be one more step closer... 

TRAVEL UPDATE - Yesterday we were able to walk in and have our fingerprints done at the Atlanta support center for the USCIS.  This was 10 days ahead of our scheduled appointment, so it may help move things along.  Wonderful Chaunda, our casework at the Atlanta CCAI office, has sent the USCIS an email to let them know we had our fingerprints done early and ask whether an officer has pulled our file yet for review.  Since we've now been fingerprinted, our USCIS approval should come within days of an officer pulling our file.  Once we receive our approval, our agency will send our next application to the USCIS, seeking specific permission to bring our daughter to the U.S. as an adopted child and new U.S. citizen, and as soon as the USCIS receives that application the clock will begin ticking for an 11-15 week estimated wait to travel to China.