Names (by Thom)

When we named our girls we choose names that were significant to us on many levels. Because we're adopting them we choose Miriam and Hannah - two women in the Bible closely associated with adoption. Their middle names - Ruth and Marie - are family names from both our sides. Also, my grandma is a twin. Her and her twin had the names Ruth and Marie. We've been really happy with the names we gave our girls and they really seem to fit them well.
This week we got their birth certificates and for the first time we saw their names as their natural father gave them: Wassa and Founé. These are also very special names. In Bambara Wassa means "satisfied". Founé means "twin". When I shared this info with a pastor friend here he told be that these were stong, beautiful names. For me, Founé has extra meaning. In this culture there is a special relationship between people of the same name. It's called "togoma" and one of the interesting things is that if two people share a name they aren't supposed to address them by that name. Instead they should call them "togoma." This is relevant because my name - Thomas - also means twin. My daughter Hannah is my togoma!