Friday, April 30, 2010

Poll: Name Change

I love learning the maiden names of women who married and took their husband's last name. I did, although I wish I had at least thought before I acted, because I didn't. (Although I can't say that the result would be different.) I feel that the move from my maiden name to my married name was pretty lateral. My sister? That girl totally scored! Her married name kicks our maiden name's butt. Then there's my friend who went from Leinweber (pronounced line-webber) to Gordon. Can you believe the luck?? Another score! However, my dear cousin Natalie went down. (And yes, I've already posted about last names. I promise this is a slightly different take--and it's interactive! You can take a poll--fun, right?!)

Anyway, I'm frequently window shopping for a new last name for my family of three. Last names like "Sugarbaker" or "Lickliter" still top the list. So many possibilities!

But let's pretend for a second that before Chuck and I got married that his last name was "Figgit" or "Knipl" (yikes--a real last name! See here.) or something equally bad and mine was "Stewart" or "Watkins" (a duo of fine, solid last names). If this were the case, Chuck has indicated that while he would be 100% supportive of me keeping my last name (much more so than he was in reality), he wouldn't take mine. This baffles me! A chance to kick "Knipl" to the curb? I'd take it in a second if I were him.

Now the interactivity: Ladies, if you had a great last name and your fiance had a very unfortunate one, would you keep yours and encourage your husband to take yours as well? Or keep yours and he keep his? Or would you switch to his unfortunate one?

And gentlemen (all one of you, Todd), same thing. Would you take the better name or keep your own?

Let's take it a bit further: let's pretend both parties of an engaged couple have horrible names. Should they just pick a new one? I'm not sure I could do this, but I think I'd really like to!

11 comments:

  1. I'm too traditional, I would never consider keeping my maiden name nor choosing a new one, no matter how bad my name may have been.

    And mine was pretty bad...and the bad name story started when my parents got married.

    My mother was Dezaree Hipps. Hipps began as a German name that was altered once my ancestors reached the US. My father was Mike Head. My mother was so teased when she got married, people told her she was 'really moving up in the world'.

    I think going from Hipps to Head was definitely a downgrade in the name department. I spent my formative and highly impressionable years growing up with the last name Head. It was awful. I was so happy to marry a man who had a normal name...I love Sellers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. comment to amanda - are you related to any sellers living in western colorado???

    and i agree with amanda - i wouldn't keep my maiden name if it was "better." the only exception: if the groom's name was slightly on the offensive side. i can't think of examples, but something crude.

    i don't think i could change names completely either. perhaps if we both had crude last names, we could alter one of them slightly? i don't know.

    and luckily i don't have to worry about it b/c i "scored"! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lucky for me, I never had a middle name, and so when I got married I just kept my maiden name as my middle name so that I didn't have to "lose" it. I was happy with that because Fromm was a huge part of what I am and I wanted to still have it. Thanks to Todd I inherited a last name that NO ONE can EVER pronounce correctly, but I love him anyway.

    Even if I hadn't been able to keep my maiden name as a middle name, I am still traditional and would have just taken Todd's last name.

    ReplyDelete
  4. First of all- I would take Niederhauser any day over Pugh!!! I certainly went DOWN!!

    Zacks family has actually had meetings about whether or not they should switch the last name from Pugh to Robinson (MIL maiden name). It was determined that Pugh is a very memorable name and therefore a good thing for those members of the family who are doctors or lawyers. We decided to keep it.

    I still dream about being a Robinson though....I always thought I'd upgrade from Galbraith as well- I guess I cared a little to much! Karma sure showed me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmm, that's a tough one. I am pretty traditional so in the end I would still take his last name. But I did date a guy with the last name of Balls and I think it is why I could never get serious with him. I mean, Merry Balls is just no way to go through life.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is cracking me up!!! My maiden names was "Walker" which is pretty much identical to the one I have now.
    I think I agree with everyone else though- unless is was offensive or I felt that my children would be forced to endure out of control torture and teasing throughout life I would stick with the hubby's name.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mine was pretty latteral: Kaelin to Wirthlin. Both end in "lin" and have the same syllables so it didn't change the sound of my name much. But...for me, I like that I took my husband's name so that I could keep my maiden name for performing reasons. It sounds like two first names :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. So this should tell you how completely shallow I am - I would have never even dated a guy who had a bad last name. I know, low. It would have been a deal breaker from the get-go. I had a roommate who dated a guy with the last name of "Barfus". I was telling her that if it worked out they needed to stick with her last name. Fortunate for her, she ended up marrying a Brown.
    So, being the shallow person I am, I would never have put myself in the situation to have to chose. Lucky for me I have a good married name that I actually really like, although I really like my maiden name too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Huband to Hobson wasn't much of a change--although rarely do people mispronounce my name anymore, so that is a bonus.

    I am pretty traditional, probably would take my husbands name no matter what, but if I had gone way down, I would be sure to share my maiden name all the time when introducing myself.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i have to admit my sadness the day i had to sign the title to my totaled car over to the insurance company. it was the last lone asset in my maiden name (moment of silence please...okay). i too kept my maiden as my middle name at marriage, so i sometimes get to use both. i also listed it on my college deplomas. i'm glad i kept it around. especially when i'm set apart for callings at church...hee hee!

    ReplyDelete
  11. i did in fact go backwards, although until recently i was the ONLY one. now there are two, what are the odds??? his brother just married a natalie too!!! my new name is a tongue twister but i'm used to it now. however for poll purposes i'd take watkins, my mom's maiden name, i think.....easy enough, but no so common, not like jones, or smith, although those sound kinda good sometimes too!!! ;) FUN.

    ReplyDelete