There is a new and growing tradition that says women do not have to take the last name of their new husbands. You know what . . . if someone asked me to change my last name I don’t know if I would. If I had a daughter, I don’t know if I would want her to change her last name.
But here’s where I’m a hypocrite. I want the woman who will eventually be my wife to change her last name.
Why?
Because your name is part of your identity. If she changes her identity to merge with yours it makes it a little bit harder for her to leave you. Also, there’s paperwork involved in changing your last name.
Maybe waiting in line at the DMV will be just the fear she needs to prevent her from cheating on you.
Can a man change his last name to fit the last name of his wife? I’m not opposed to that. I know one guy named Graham Stoopinpooper who changed his last name when he married his wife Kelly Crosby. He taught special needs students and felt Crosby was easier for the kids to say.
Plus it kept the special needs kids from laughing at him. And how horrible must it be for a man to choose a career helping the developmentally different only to have them laugh at him every day he goes to work.
I know another guy, Jeff Goldman who merged his last name with that of his wife. They both changed his last name to Goldmanchen.
The good news? When they got divorced, they were BOTH inconvenienced with the paperwork of changing back their names.
Also there is something to be said about a “Family Name”.
Why should a woman take the last name of his wife? It makes you a family and it is tradition. The response I’ve heard from a few women who haven’t changed their names is “It’s time for that tradition to be broken.”
Ok fine . . . here’s another tradition that we can break . . . engagement rings. If she’s not taking your name and her parents aren’t giving you a dowry to take her off of their hands; you don’t have to give her an engagement ring.
Here’s an idea . . . if I take your last name . . . will you buy me a $30,000 ring. If so . . . I’m ready for proposals.