Chuck and I were out at dinner about two weeks ago and the topic of changing my last name came up. I told him that I wanted to hyphenate it and he paused.
Let me explain: I really like my name. Like really like my name. It flows well and I’ve kind of gotten used to writing it for the past 20 or so years. I want to take on his last name, just after mine.
Our children will have his name, no doubt. It won’t even be hyphenated, I feel like that’s too much to put on a child, especially the combination of both of our last names. We don’t have any males with the my last name, and though I know I won’t technically be able to carry on the last name, I want to keep it.
It seems like I’ve heard every argument in the book, “drop your middle name and make your middle name your last name”. That’s not going to work because I love my middle name. I don’t want 4 separate names either; I would love for it to be D*****-A******. The two names together roll of the tongue, and I don’t mind having both. Of course I’ll answer to Mrs. A, but official name will be both.
My boyfriend on the other hand must’ve taken me saying I want to hyphenate my name as saying I didn’t want to take his and said “you can have your triple a tanzanite (the stone I want as the center stone on my engagement ring) or you can hyphenate your name”. I didn’t want to start any kind of major debate inside the restaurant, so I told him that we’d put a pin in it and come back to it at a later date, but I wanted to pose the question to y’all.
I know that a lot bloggers that I follow are married, for those of you who just took your husband’s last name, did you ever think about hyphenating your name? Or did that never cross your mind? If any of you thought about hyphenating your name and in the end chose not to, why?
I just took my husband's last name, but I have never been that in love with my old last name. It was long and my signature took a thousand years and never fit on forms. Now I have a shorter last name that I love 🙂
I think if it had been a name I loved and felt very strongly towards I may have done the hyphenating, possibly. I wouldn't have wanted to get rid of my middle name either!
I took my husband's last name and briefly considered hyphenating it with my maiden name, but at the end of the day I just didn't like the flow of it & I wasn't that committed to it. [Family time was nill to none growing up so I wasn't gung-ho about keeping it].
I think it helped to that I have a younger brother so my maiden name 'can live on'. And I know my husband has said he hopes that our daughter keeps our last name [in case any future kids are not boys as he's the last of the Lehmann line].
I wouldn't want to give up my middle name though either. But a lot of people have more than a 3 worded name. My brother has 3 middle names [my parents couldn't decide] and hardly anyone knows and all it really does is annoy him if he has to fill out his middle name anywhere.