Hyphenated last names

[pshsx1]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I had a hyphenated last name during my first marriage - it was a major pain in the butt. People didn't know where to put me alphabetically and were constantly mangling it. I don't recommend it. My last name before my marriage was my father's, not my mother's - and what would my daughters do when they married - have a triple-hyphenated name?
Currently my maiden name is my middle name - I took the last name of my husband, but still retained my previous name. I'm happy with it.

My mom did this. I liked my mom's old middle name, though. Currently it's Brown.

One of my friends has a hyphenated name because his parents divorced and his mother kept her maiden name the whole time.

Originally Posted by GTAlphaPhi

I've always wondered, especially with the rise of same-sex marriages, how to deal with last names? While I know many same-sex spouses (gay and lesbian), all of them kept their own names.


Are any of you part of or know of same-sex marriages where one took the other's name, or somehow combined it? How do you/they decide who's name will be the family name? Since it's same-sex, there isn't the "man's-name-is-the-family-name" tradition because either they're both men, or in the case of a lesbian marriage, no men.

One of my friends is engaged and I think he plans on taking his fiancee's name.
I don't think there's any standard with last names in same-sex relationships nearly as much as male-female ones. It's just do what you want, I guess.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by GTAlphaPhi

I've always wondered, especially with the rise of same-sex marriages, how to deal with last names? While I know many same-sex spouses (gay and lesbian), all of them kept their own names.


Are any of you part of or know of same-sex marriages where one took the other's name, or somehow combined it? How do you/they decide who's name will be the family name? Since it's same-sex, there isn't the "man's-name-is-the-family-name" tradition because either they're both men, or in the case of a lesbian marriage, no men.

Originally Posted by pshsx1

One of my friends is engaged and I think he plans on taking his fiancee's name.
I don't think there's any standard with last names in same-sex relationships nearly as much as male-female ones. It's just do what you want, I guess.

My friends in Phoenix have been together for 10 years. They've never told us what to call them, but we have a three couple group that vacation together, etc. and the other two couples call them either "The Boys" or their last names hyphenated, ie. The Brown-Smiths or The Smith-Browns depending on which order you felt like putting it in at the time. I don't think they care in the least.