18.4.11

Miss Bee's Big Name Question

Today's question goes all the way back to second grade. When you had a crush on Billy and all you could do was scribble his name surrounded by hearts in your duotang. Then your name beside it. Then it allllways came down to you testing out what your name would sound like . . . with Billy's last name attached to it.

Would you change your name after you got married?


I work in a place whose customer clientele are, for the resounding majority, female and married. But I also get to peek at their customer files and I realize that they more often than not share a different name than their spouse. It's become a huge deal lately (maybe  a trend?) for women to thrust themselves into married life on the independent foot. After all, isn't taking a man's name so anti-feminist? You aren't their property, after all! And say you're an only daughter. Don't you want to continue the family legacy of your surname?

But still. I grew up SUPER EXCITED to take my husband's name! I felt like trying a new name was like trying a new pair of shoes. And no matter how forward-thinking I find myself to be, I still think there is something poignant and romantic to changing your name. It's that little out-in-the-world expression that this person has become a part of you and the identity that you show the world.

Then there's hyphenation. It can get pretty unwieldy, especially if you have a long name. Even having two separate names can make things confusing when kids start coming into the mix. But aside from hyphenating, there ARE alternatives. Hell, even guys are opting to take their wives' names! Or couples are swapping. Geez!

So what do you think, all you kids out there in prairie land?

Miss Bee

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