Amaya

As we move to less than a week before we know when her visa will be issued, I thought we should officially announce her American name. It will be Amaya Emmanuella Boarman.
In Ghana, the day of the week you are born on is of great significance and you receive a name associated with that day. Many Ghanaians don't know the date/month they were born on, but know the day! Emmanuella's is Saturday and her Saturday name is, Ama. Because we wanted to find something that is close to her actual name, we thought by adding only two letters to Ama, Amaya would be perfect. Pronounced Ah-my-yah.
Many people want to know why we are changing her name. We see naming as part of a welcome-the new/American name represents the fact that she is now part of a new family. When a parent names a child, they're welcoming her; identifying her with them, forever. A name is important to one's identity and in the world of the Bible, God changed people's names; Saul to Paul, Abram to Abraham.
With that being said, I think if Emmanuella wasn't 5 syllables and 10 letters long we might have kept it. Shortening it to something like Emma wasn't an option for us as this is the 2nd most popular name in all America. And, you have to remember that we are a family of 5 trying to all agree! :)