Taking your husband's name

[robinb]

I never thought about it past High School since once I was an adult I always knew that I would keep my own name when and if I get married. I didn't take my DH's last name but I named my DD with it. If she marries someone with a crazy last name then it's up to her to keep her name or change it.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

I have a very German first name that was paired up with a very German last name and now I have a very Irish last name.

I know someone, due to marriage, that is now Kelly Kelly.

my nurse practitioner is kelly kelly! lol but she kept her maiden and hyphenated. but i still find it hilarious!

 

[nmmom95]

I don't like my DH's (and my) last name, but I changed it when we got married, because my maiden name wasn't any better. I have an Italian first name and a German last name. My parents didn't match my first & last names, either, so it didn't matter to me. I have boys, so they are stuck with it as well.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

It's funny because when I was 16 and my DFiance was 18, we started thinking about names for kids, for fun, but sort of seriously as well. Even now, at 22 and 25, it has changed with 3 exceptions:

1. First boy, he gets to name. First girl, I get to name.
2. First boy will have Alexander as a first or middle name.
3. First girl will have Aveline as a middle name.

If everything goes as planned (lol, like it ever does) right now it's:

Cameron Alexander
Alyssa Aveline

We really only want 2 kids, one boy, one girl. If we have a third, of course I want a girl, he wants a boy...

These fit with his last name, I would never even think of using mine, or keeping mine. Not that I don't like my name but I wouldn't say no to his name.

 

[wdwfan16]

There is an easy answer. Keep your last name.

 

[Robindianne]

This reminds me of "Wedding Singer" when Adam Sandler questions the name-to-be Julia Goulia.

warning : This is just a fun topic... I'm not implying anything about my life.

Every parent seems to go through the torcher of picking out the perfect sounding name for their kids. Now i'm not getting into about crazy names or crazy spellings. Just one that seems to flow nicely, first-middle-last.

Gals: Did you ever sit and think about your boyfriend's last name and wonder if it sounded right with your name??
Guys: Did you ever say your girlfriend's name with your name wondering if it sounded right?
Are there any lovers in your past you're kinda glad that didn't work out in the end because you think the name would sounds awful?

I'm sure any parent has had a hard time picking out the name of their girl... Only to hope later down the line they marry some one, and take on a whole new name.


For me: There's a couple last names that just sound awful if I think about it. One that sounded perfect, and one that would've been alright. Not that all of them were marriage material or anything, just past relationships.

 

[Holly]

I grew up with a Russian last name that people never even tried to pronounce, they just threw up their hands. It doesn't even have a vowel.


People always joked that I should find someone with the last name Wood, since my name is Holly, but instead I married someone with another difficult to pronounce Slavic last name.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have a very German first name that was paired up with a very German last name and now I have a very Irish last name.

I know someone, due to marriage, that is now Kelly Kelly.

I know a Kelly Kelley too

I only have boy children, so I can't answer your question about giving your girl a name. I have heard of some married couples hyphenating their names when they got married (ie, Jane Smith marries John Jones and their new names are Jane Smith-Jones and John Smith-Jones), so I suppose my boys could change their last names one day, but I doubt it.

In Michigan our minister had taken his wife's last name. He knew a handful of other husbands who had done the same--so it does happen already

My married last name is German. DH's grandfather came to the US from Germany. I never in a million years would have dreamed that we would end up living in Germany 13 years after we were married (14 now) It is very common for me to be somewhere trying to get through in my broken German, get to my name and people suggest I just have my husband call or come in. I explain that he speaks less German than I do and they are shocked. The assumption is that with my last name I married a local

 

[minkydog]

My maiden name was a not uncommon English surname. I didn't like it much because people mispronounced it all the time and the name lent itself to much teasing. I swore that when I grew up I would marry someone with a normal last name. So I married a Greek guy and now people REALLY can't say it.

DD has a very common Greek first name, Eleni. In Greek culture that would be like naming your child Britney or Ashley. It's just beautiful with our last name and she looks very exotic, very Greek. I really hope that she will keep her surname when she gets married. It just fits her so nicely.

 

[minkydog]

I went to college with a lady named Sybil Tribble. I once worked with Candy Cane. My grandfather's name was Thomas Thomas.

I worked with one lady with the last name of Wilson. One day we were talking and she casually mentioned that she had kept her married name(this was back when that was very uncommon.) So I asked her why? "Because my husband's name is Roach and I'm not going through life with a name like that!" She also made sure her kids were named Wilson, with her husband's blessing. I guess that was a name he wasn't interested in perpetuating.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I had to consider when I began dating a man who had the same last name as my son's first name, Tim(m). So when we got married, Mrs. Timm had a son named Tim. Once, a pharmacist, who knew my last name, heard me yell to my son and incredulously said "What did you call him?" When he got older, Tim legally changed his last name and became....Tim Timm.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

I'm very old fashioned so I always knew I'd take my husband's name but when we were first dating and I heard what it was, I wasn't thrilled. I went from having a very strong, American sounding name, that I loved, to a big old Polish name that makes people freeze when they see it. Nobody can pronounce it even though it sounds exactly as it looks if you go slow and sound it out. Nothing that my parents named me could have possibly gone with this last name. Oh, well. He's a great guy so I guess he was worth it.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I went from a beautiful musical sounding Italian name that I really loved to a name that has about 500 listings in any phone book in any county in America

 

[minkydog]

I'm very old fashioned so I always knew I'd take my husband's name but when we were first dating and I heard what it was, I wasn't thrilled. I went from having a very strong, American sounding name, that I loved, to a big old Polish name that makes people freeze when they see it. Nobody can pronounce it even though it sounds exactly as it looks if you go slow and sound it out. Nothing that my parents named me could have possibly gone with this last name. Oh, well. He's a great guy so I guess he was worth it.

I feel your pain. We have a 10-letter Greek name. It's pronounced just like it looks, no silent letters or weird vowels. But people take one look at it and say "Can I call you Cathy?"

 

[erincon23]

I used to work with a guy who combined his last name with his wife's last name to create a totally new name (not hyphenating, they took one part of hers and one part of his). My DH and I talked about this -- not seriously -- but if you took the parts of his name and the parts of my name, you'd get...
Ad-Rad or Con-dams.

No thank you.

Erin

 

[mom2rb]

I hyphenated my last name, and I gave my kids just their father's last name. I wish that I had just kept mine and hyphenated the kids'. I like my last name, everyone I knew thought that I was being so radical by hyphenating. It would have been a huge deal to just keep my own. I do regret that my children don't have my family name.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I couldn't wait to be rid of my maiden name. It was only 5 letters long (and actually only 3 different letters), but NOBODY could pronounce it. My parents were divorced when I was 2 and my father and I stopped speaking when I was 14, so I had no attachment to the name. I wanted to take my mother's maiden name at that point, but she said no. So as soon as I got married, I eagerly adopted my husband's name. It was pronounceable, but sounded ridiculous with my first name.

I'm divorced now, but I kept the name. For the above 2 reasons, plus I figured that I'm young and I most likely will remarry. I'm used to it as well - it's just a name. And I have met my Mr. Right and we are planning to marry - I will finally have a name that I like, that can be pronounced VERY easily, and sounds good with my first name!

 

[AKL_Megs]

I went from one generic name to another.

My NEW generic name is Irish, however, and is a little bit more exotic!

 

[Colleen27]

I hyphenated my last name, and I gave my kids just their father's last name. I wish that I had just kept mine and hyphenated the kids'. I like my last name, everyone I knew thought that I was being so radical by hyphenating. It would have been a huge deal to just keep my own. I do regret that my children don't have my family name.

That's something that I regret from time to time too as it becomes apparent that neither of the men of my generation are likely to reproduce. It is a very unusual name, only a handful of us in the United States and all fairly closely related, and I don't like the idea that it'll end with our generation.

 

[SandrA9810]

My nephew has the family's last name as his father left the picture. But it's likely he'll never have children because of fragile X. And my sis plus the rest of her kids have her husbands name.... Which you can find 500 pages of the same name in the phone book.
I can't wait to get rid of my last name, as long as I don't marry some one with an O name as well. I'm ready to get rid of the intials SLO.

My grandmother's first name is a combo of her mother and father. But she usually shortens it, to the more female sounding part.
She thought it would be great to name her first daughter like that too... Merladene. But thankfully she saw a movie with a really great actress and named her after that.
My g'father was Merle, but i never knew his middle name. Just that it was M. I just found out he got his mother's name Merideth for a middle name.
His last name is very german, often mispronounced, but very very few in the US. But he's got 7 bro/sis that i'm sure it's still carrying on.