Saturday, June 18, 2005

What's in a name

For the past 100 years, women have long been expected that they assume their husband’s surname after getting married. In what is considered a rite of passage so to speak, some women take pride in changing their last name to become the new Mrs. So and so. Never mind the hassle of having to change all of your personal records ranging from your passport to social security card because it’s all part of the process. Just how many percent of newly wed women change their name? I’m assuming that at least more than 50% do change their name. While another percentage choose the concatenated method by adding a dash. For instance, Miss Smith becomes Mrs. Smith-Wesson. There are also others who merge their last names with their husband’s – creating a new last name. For example, Mr. Wesson and Ms. Smith become Mr. And Mrs. Smesson. What I find even more intriguing is the notion that some women are now opting out of the whole process. Is it a whole new women’s lib movement or just a pragmatic move on their part? Maybe it’s a combination of both? I believe it’s the latter!

2 comments:

Weary Hag said...

I'll spare you my opinion on the hyphenation and combo-names. All I will say is they must have their reasons and those reasons are clearly beyond the obvious.
I've had wavering thoughts on this topic myself. My ultra small and private wedding will take place this year and I have yet to decide whether or not I will take on my fiance's last name. My reasons are mostly selfish in that at 50, I'm quite accustomed to being called by my current last name, AND, I dread the days of having to change it on every credit card, at every bureacratic agency, and at that little part of my brain that has trouble changing the word it's so familiar with. I know I'll be forgetting and using my current name here and there ~ yet, I do like the time-honored tradition of taking on a husband's name. Tough call, but I'm sure I'll make the right decision.

Bill said...

From my point of view, it would make no difference to me, one way, or the other, if my wife took my last name.

We talked about it before we got married and that's what she wanted to do.

Had she wanted to keep her last name, that too would have been fine with me.

As for the combo/hyphenated names thing... I don't get it either