I thought Adrienne's post on the name issue as it pertains to marriage and children was incredibly interesting - it's something that I've thought a lot about. I took my husband's last name about three years after our wedding - basically because I finally reached the conclusion that no, the whole Amy Fisher/Joey Buttofuoco thing was never going to go away.
So, while I understand why many readers, like Courtney, took their husbands' names "so that we could both share a last name with our kids," my sympathies are definitely more in alignment with women like Laura, who noted that she kept her maiden name because she "just didn't see any reason to change it."
The question of what to name the kids when both parents have different last names is definitely a thorny one. I was impressed to read that Miss Chris and Alisa gave their children their last names instead of their husbands', which seemed to be what most women do in this situation. Susannah's daughter has a hyphenated last name, which may have been what inspired anonymous2 to object, "hyphenating the children's names works for one generation, but then what happens when Mary Smith-Jones grows up and marries John Murray Clark? Kids named Smith-Jones-Murray-Clark?"
Well, anonymous2, I have the solution - one which incorporates the names of both parents, creates both a matriarchal and patriarchal line of descent, and restricts the number of names any given child can have to two.
In my ideal world, when a couple would get married, the husband, wife and all their children would have both names. So, for example, my husband and I would be Andy and Amy Fisher-Lutz. Now, say my daughter, Erika Fisher-Lutz, ends up marrying my dear friend's son, who (in this world) would have his own hyphenated name, Andrew Burns-Scoggins. Well, under my plan, daughters would carry their mothers' names to the new union, and sons would carry their fathers' names. So Erika and Andrew would become the Fisher-Scogginses. If my son Aaron scandalously married this same friend's daughter, Hannah (a whole six years older than he!), they would be Hannah and Aaron Burns-Lutz.
I love this plan, not only because I came up with it, but because it is a truly egalitarian option that embraces the family history of both parents. But, since I couldn't even convince my own husband to try to start this trend with me, I don't see it taking off any time soon!
