From Bust Blog- Okay really??? I just did it 'cause I liked his last name....

[rosered32]

The Name Game

What’s in a name?  Apparently, a lot more people get heated up about the issue than you might think.  Although far from a new debate, a recent study reports that 71% of Americans think women should take their spouses name after marriage.  Half of the respondents said the act should be a legal requirement.  Um, does the idea of individual choice apply to our individuality?

The study, by the Center for Survey Research at Indiana University, must have also had a write-in portion, where respondents penciled opinions along the lines of ‘’women should lose their own identity when they marry and become a part of the man and his family.'’  Others said it was more of a ‘’practical matter,'’ that is to say: they didn’t want the mailman or airline ticket agent to get confused.

Today, 5 to 10 percent of women keep the name they were born with when they marry.  What kind of solutions did you married (or soon-to-be married, or divorced) Busties come up with?  There’s the hyphen option, the classic combo, and the no-thanks-I-like-my-name-just-fine idea.  Did you end up taking on your spouse’s name, or better yet, did anyone’s spouse take your name?  What happens when the kids get involved?  Apparently, some people are worried that our kids’ kids’ kids will end up with long-winded last names like banana-nana-fo-fana-mi-mi-mofana.

Daily News Article / The Study at IU’s website.

Photo courtesy of Joe-KS.com.

Comments

[perversedmind.livejournal.com]

My brother and I have different last names because my mother kept her name. Daughters get their mother's last name, and son's get their father's. That's how it works in my family, at least.

[vancefox.livejournal.com]

While I do think that it is up to those getting married, I must admit that I personally despise the "dashed" names. If two people want to keep their original last names, fine. Take one or the other's last name, fine. But the dashing is getting out of hand.

This always bothered me but it really got under my skin when I had a student in one of my classes with a "double dashed" name (as in first-second-third). The mother had a dashed name, got married, and just tacked the husband's name on. That, frankly, is going too far.

[danaewinters.livejournal.com]

I took my husbands name, not because it seemed proper or anything but because I really didn't like my last name, and the mocking I already got from it. I guess that's shallow, in a sense...no more shallow than when I refused to get serious with a guy I was dating before him, because his last name was Lee. No way was I going to marry him and wind up Sarah Lee.