hyphenated-names

[CatHerder]

Hello dudes and dudettes!

At work today, I saw a memo in which one of my male coworkers who had married a few months back notified our boss and the HR department that he had changed his last name so that it was hyphenated as hisname [hyphen] hername.

Now, I know it's pretty common for women who marry these days to hyphenate their names, but it is more rare for a man to do this when marrying. What are your thoughts on this?

If things go right, I will have created a poll...

 

[PopClick]

What can I say. I like pie.

 

[BruceWayne]

I personally would never change my last name and I think it's weird that a guy would do that lol. But I'd be completely fine with it if the girl wanted to hyphenate hers and keep her family name. It's not really a big deal to me.

 

[Donkeyfish07]

What can I say. I like pie.

Great minds think alike. Bring on the pie

 

[Tintin]

I guess I don't see anything wrong with them, I just don't like them.

 

[MollyConnor]

Tradition, baby! I want a new last name!

 

[cinder]

Well going down the abstract what if of if I perchance should actually ever possibly get married ( it'll probably happen right after I win the lottery): I think it might depend on how old I am when I marry. If I were like senior citizen age, I think I'd be more attached to my family name and having no one to pass it on to I might hyphenate. If I were younger and might have kids, I'd probably take my husbands name. If he wanted to hyphenate I'd probably give him a strange look, but I wouldn't make a huge deal out of it. Good guys are too hard to come by to make such a thing a major issue.

 

[Utah]

Day one of a three month internship and I met a guy with a hyphenated last name. I made the mistake of saying, "Hey, why do you have a hyphenated last name? Did your mother marry, divorce then remarry?" His snarky response was: "I took my wife's last name, thank you." I knew it was going to be a long three months.

I voted women should change their name. Every other choice is liberal pukism (except the pie).

 

[cmarieh]

I think women in general should take their "husbands" last name and if they are in a profession before marriage like a doctor or lawyer then I can see having it be hyphenated because that's what people know them by. I hope that makes sense. Either way it's their decision and I can only answer for myself

 

[Utah]

Tradition, baby! I want a new last name!

Why are you only 25? Why couldn't you be at least 40?

 

[JesusLives]

When I married at the age of 17 it was not a big deal to change my last name.....However, getting remarried at 59 was a whole other story.....Wow, too many credit cards, mortgage, insurances, magazines, church, clubs, and every time I think it is all done then a car tag will pop up that needs to be renewed....let's not forget social security card.....ugh....

I suppose tourist was worth the headache......of all the changing.....will never do it again....Proud to have his last name though when all is said and done at the end of the day.....

 

[melita916]

If I get married, I would take his last name.

I have a friend who is married. On the wedding day, I switched her last name to his on my phone. Turned out she kept her maiden name, but eh. I didn't change it back on my phone. Cuz that's how I roll lol

 

[Lynx]

If you research the reason for this tradition you may be better able to determine whether to keep it.

Also you may better understand why so many want to go against it these days.

 

[Lynx]

By the way, so far the pie seems to be winning.

 

[PoetMary]

Actually, there's a rather long tradition of hyphenated names in England. Also hyphenated names are considered more posh.

It's all acculturation.

In Iceland you can have four people with four last names all in the same family because they do the classic Nordic thing...

Father is Tom Janson (Tom, son of Jan)
Mother is Anna Samsdottir (daughter of Sam)
Daughter is Jill Tomsdottir (daughter of Tom)
Son is James Tomson (son of Tom)

No one takes "dad's" name at marriage. Surnames are determined based on older customs.

I'm not even sure how old the custom of taking the man's last name is. I figure if people want to hyphenate, go to town. Personally, I like my last name...it's very unusual. I think I'd rather keep it if I marry. Of course, it would be weird to hyphenate because it's unusual.

 

[Pipp]

If I ever get married ... goodbye old last name , hello new one. Also... pie is great. I made a nice apple pie for my dad just 2 days ago.

 

[seoulsearch]

I voted women should change their name. Every other choice is liberal pukism (except the pie).

I think it can depend.

I'm not sure how many people realize how important a name can actually be.

Most people know my story: I was found in a cardboard box in front of a theater when I was a few days old. Someone found me and took me to a police station, where I was taken to an orphanage (so the story goes.) Up until that time, I Had No Name. The orphanage director took me in, along with a group of 7 other Unnamed Babies, and named us all, including giving us his family name (which is a huge deal in a country where having "no roots", as we did, means being seen as not human.)

Though I didn't have to wait long, I finally had a name! And when I was adopted, my parents changed it to my current American name.

People ask me all the time: "What about your REAL parents?" And I always think to myself, "My REAL parents are the ones I've had all my life... Not the ones who left me behind."

When I got married in my 20's, my then-husband wanted me to keep my name, which I did, because he felt it represented all the things my family has done for me that no one else could ever do and, he said, "My family shouldn't get the credit for that by association." It was a fascinating thought to me.

If I ever get married, it's something that will definitely be on The Big Discussion Table. I could go either way. But my name is very important to me, and if he flippantly brushed me off because of it, he obviously wouldn't be the person I'd be marrying.

 

[Siberian_Khatru]

I'm changing my name to Phoenix Dark Dirk Steel whether I get married or not (please tell me someone else here saw the movie that reference is from...).

On a more serious note p), I think the tradition of a wife taking her husband's name is just that: a tradition. I don't see any wrongdoing in the reverse.

Now about that pie...

 

[TriviaGirl86]

I think having a hyphenated name would be hilarious, especially since my ex-boyfriend is Polish-American with a 20 letter long last name (I might be exaggerating a bit).

 

[Tintin]

I'm changing my name to Phoenix Dark Dirk Steel whether I get married or not (please tell me someone else here saw the movie that reference is from...).

On a more serious note p), I think the tradition of a wife taking her husband's name is just that: a tradition. I don't see any wrongdoing in the reverse.

Now about that pie...

Sounds like something from a Ben Stiller movie. Perhaps one involving small-time superheroes?