Girls and Guys Last Names

[White_Chocolate]

what do you think of women keeping their last names?
what do you think of men taking the woman's last name?
what do you think of hyphenating names?


[I]personally, i don't know if i like women keeping their last name unless there's extenuating circumstances

the whole idea of a man taking a woman's last name is new to me but i have heard of several men doing this. imho, they didn't do it to show who wears the pants in the relationship. or do they, mr jennifer lopez?

i vote for hyphenation. that way, you get the best of both worlds. i know a family that hyphenated their daughter's name but not their son's. i don't know why but her name has a special kick to it. probably because it's an irish-jewish combination. anyway, i've always said that if my husband had a cool last name that fit with mine. . .i would hypenate. but i don't know what sounds good with McDonald anyway. hopefully, something i can pronounce.

I am in favor of women keeping their last names. I know that I'll be in school for a long time, and I hope to earn my PhD someday, and I know I'm going to want to keep my name when I do earn it.

As far as men taking women's names, I know it's been done before, but I think it's ridiculous.

Hyphenation's ok, but sometimes the names just get too damn long, so why bother?

[valkyrie]

I think that each person should decide which option best suits him or her.

I would never, ever change my name/take a man's name. I would not hyphenate either because first I don't see the point of it and second my last name is very long and difficult, and I would never want to add to it.

In an ideal world, everyone would accept the choices that people make with respect to their names. When I got married, I kept my name and we still got things addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Hisname Hisname. That annoyed me to no end!

[treblk]

I have a Soror who's married name is Smith and so it her maiden name. She wanted to keep both names and has thus hyphenated it to read Mrs. Smith-Smith. I thought that was the cutest thing.

I say to each their own. I would hyphenate my name.

I'm definitely taking his name when we get married! I wish I could take it now!

I'm very traditional in that sense... it just seems natural to me to take on your husband's name because you are joining his family. Beyond that, the important family name to me is in my middle name (Wright). I'm the last one of us and I will keep that as my middle name. My actual last name I have no real attachment to. My dad's family and I don't get along, so I'd just as soon be rid of it.

Besides, his name is easier than mine

[Kevlar281]

I would prefer her to take my name; because honestly what happens when the children are born?

[sigmagrrl]

I'm keeping my name....two reasons:

1) I LOVE my name. It is beautiful and exotic....

2) Now that my dad has passed away, it is my only link to my mother...

I've decided to keep it. For the children, they'll take his name, of course.

[GeekyPenguin]

I think I'm skewed because I don't want any its...but I am not a fan of taking the man's last name. I was not going to take GPBoys - it had already been discussed. I'm not very fond of my last name, but it's mine and it sounds good - I have one of those very typical Irish names...Kathleen Marie Brigid McSurname. Maybe if I found a nice Irish boy I'd be Kathleen McMySurname O'Hissurname ala Hillary, but I will never just take his. Too traditional.

[Munchkin03]

I obviously can't make the decision for other people, but I decided to keep my name. Here are a few reasons why:

1. I am my father's youngest daughter. He has no sons. My intended, on the other hand, has a brother and nothing but male cousins. I would like to keep the family name going in some way. Whether or not I like that side of the family is irrelevant to me.
2. Like OTW, I want to have MY name when I get my advanced degrees. Come to think of it, none of my female professors took their husband's names. He is joining my family just as much as I am joining his.
3. I like my last name better than I like Mr. Munch's. It reflects MY ethnic and regional tradition. It is specific to one family in one area of my state--something of which I am very proud.
4. I would like to keep my credit record separate from my husband's for the first few years, for totally personal reasons. Keeping my maiden name makes this a little easier.

My mother hyphenates, so I don't feel too bad at all about keeping my name--the one that I received my education, established my credit, and had a great life for a few decades with.

What happens to the kids, you ask? My nephew's last name is hyphenated, and he's just fine. Both names are relatively short, so it doesn't overwhelm him (he's 2). Some of my friends whose mothers kept their names professionally use their father's last name, still others hyphenate.

We'll probably hyphenate--if we decide to go forth and multiply. I'm not really into the idea of little Munchkins running around.

[sugar and spice]

I'm a fan of hyphenation in certain situations, but I definitely don't think it's the ultimate answer. What if everybody did it? Then the son of Mr. and Mrs. Smith-Johnson would marry the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jones-Harrison and their children would have the last name of Smith-Johnson-Jones-Harrison. And so on and so forth.

I don't like the idea of simply taking his name, so mostly likely I'll end up being Heather Mylastname Hislastname. But I think it's up to people to decide for themselves -- there are so many options and I don't think one ALWAYS makes sense.

[DeltAlum]

Personally, I like hyphenation.

Here, however, is one good reason go keep your own original last name.

One of our daughters does a lot of performing in musical theatre. She is divorced and re-married.

When she married the first time, she took her husband's name and gained some recognition under than name. When divorced, she changed back to her maiden name. When she re-married, again she took her new husband's name.

It was very confusing for people who cast these shows to figure out who she was and what she had done.

It's also a pain in the butt to chage everything forward and backward legally when a divorce occurs.

[AlphaSigOU]

Doesn't matter to me either way. I'll give my future wife the choice on whether she takes my last name, hyphenates it or keeps her maiden name.

[DWAlphaGam]

I'll be happy to unload my last name. Like Ginger, there are issues with the paternal side of my family. Also, my first name is French (kinda ) and my last name is German, so they really don't sound right together because of how the syllables are stressed. And, even if I did want to hyphenate, my last name has 9 letters and my boy's last name has 7 letters, which I think is a bit much.


I have a few friends who want to combine their last names to make a new one. No one has come up with anything halfway normal-sounding yet, though.

[MeLikey]

Good question. I guess I'll decide when that time comes. I never really thought about it in depth. However, I guess subconciously I am traditional because when my ex-boyfriend and I talked about marriage I automatically said my first name with his last name to see how it sounded. I didn't even think twice about doing it any other way.

[SSS1365]

I'm getting married in January, and I will be taking his last name. But I think I am going to keep my maiden name as my middle name, that way I don't just lose it completely. Although, my last name now still isn't even the name I was born with...