- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I kept my name when I got married because I didn't feel like changing it. (My rationale at the time was that I was marrying my husband, not becoming him.) This confused a few people and mystified a few others (I have some relatives who still address letters to me by my husband's name -- and I've been married for 14 years and they're on MY side of the family!), but overall things worked out swimmingly.
And then I got pregnant. I wanted to give the baby my last name because, as I pointed out to my husband, I knew that it was mine. He wanted to give the baby his last name because he already knew that it was mine!
We compromised and combined our two last names to make a new surname for our kids. Now we have three last names in the family. It has gone pretty well. Everyone knows who is who, there is no doubt about who is whose child, and my kids have a last name that is unique. I get called by the kids' last name occasionally, but such is life.
We were fortunate enough to have short last names that sounded harmonious when combined, though, so this solution is not for everyone.
Other creative solutions to the name game:
- A friend with last name that's difficult to pronounce goes by his wife's surname, which is short and easy to say. However, they plan to give his last name to their first kid to carry on the family name.
- Another friend and his wife picked out a completely new surname when they got married, and BOTH changed their names.
