Angelina Jolie and Maddox arrive in Vietnam
Shy three and a half year old Pham Quang Sang was plucked from the Tam Binh orphanage outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by Angelina Jolie this morning. Jolie was seen with her bodyguard, driver, and five year old son, Maddox, after arriving in Vietnam by chartered jet late last night. She was also said to be accompanied by her daughters Zahara, 26 months, and Shiloh, 10 months. Angelina’s partner Brad Pitt did not join her to pick up their new adoptive child.
Jolie and Pham were driven from the orphanage to the Justice department, where adoption papers were signed and he was renamed Pax Thien Jolie. Angelina will visit the US Consulate later today to obtain a passport for the child and finalize the process. It is expected that he will go home with her this weekend.
Jolie’s new son was abandoned at the hospital when he was a baby and placed at the orphanage. No one has been able to find his birth parents. His new first name Pax means “peace” in Latin. His middle name Thien has several meanings in Vietnamese, according to an online dictionary.
Thiên is the verb “to move,” and also serves as an adjective meaning “inclined to” or “prone to”. There is also the word thiện in Vietnamese, which means “good” or “kind.”
Angelina’s new son’s name may mean “inclined to peace” or “peaceful and kind.” That’s really quite nice.
Update: Just Jared looked up the boy’s name, too, and offered this meaning.
In Latin, “PAX” means “peace.”
In Vietnamese, “THIEN” means “kind and good” or “helpful” or “heaven” or “quieting” or “bright.”
Another update: This seems to be the actual meaning. Vietnamese reader Kandice notes that “thien” means sky, although I have read in another source that it means “heaven” too, so his name may mean “peaceful sky”
Here are pictures of Angelina arriving in Vietnam with her older son, Maddox, and her bodyguard, Mickey Brett. Maddox looks scared and it must be a lot for him to take in. Angelina holds it together well considering how much she puts up with on a daily basis.
Thanks to Celebrity Dirty Laundry for these pics.
I am Vietnamese, and Thien means Heaven 🙂 Example
Thanks Kandice! I was just about to update the post with that as I read that it meant sky.
Why not heavenly peace?
Any reason why she couldn’t keep his name? Kind of sad that he is leaving the only home he’s every known and will have to adjust to a new, and probably wonderful, life…but to also have to adjust to a new name??
I dunno. Is it normal to change the name of a child who is old enough to know his old name? I mean, wouldn’t that maybe add to the trauma of leaving everythig he knows for a whole new family?
Whatever. It is a nice name.
Normally, I read the other comments before posting. Clearly, not this time.
I believe all of her children, bar Shiloh, of course, had their names changed once adopted.
I think its great that she is helping this little guy. But why change the name? I know my kid knew her name from the age of 2 years. Maybe they feel that since he was abandoned, that they needed to give him a clean slate. Who knows, I hope for him that he can adjust.
Meg Ryan did the same thing. I like that she doesn’t name the kid Kyle or something very American but rather tries to keep it sounding vaguely foreign and close to his birth name. Also, she added a Vietnamese middle name, which is nice. I think the adoptive parents typically choose a new name unless the child is big enough to have a problem with it. Most kids have no memories of their lives prior to a certain age (usually 4), so I think he’s going to adjust well. I’m glad they didn’t adopt a baby again. And is it me or the boy looks a lot like Maddox (I mean, among the group of kids on the photo from the orphanage)?
Poor Mad does look frightened and he’s looking directly at the obviously insane pap who’s riding on the back of a truck in order to get a pic inside their car. Jolie has clearly developed mechanisms for coping with the constant intrusion but Jesus, the never ending scrutiny would drive you nuts wouldn’t it?
i think that that was probably scary for maddox. how come its not politically correct to question why her son couldn’t find kinship and brotherhood with an american kid…she said that they needed another asian boy for mad. wtf? well, when you can pay off all the right people to expedite your child collection adoption spree, its probably easier to do it in third world countries. I bet now that orphanage is going to start charging americans thousands more for adoption.
I think it was wrong of her to change his name, he will have enough to adjust to without that added burden. Of course she adopted/bought him for Maddox, so maybe Maddox named him.
why would maddox, a cambodian child who most likely can’t speak vietnamese (o_.) be the one to name his new sibling a vietnamese name?