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user names
Toycoon:
Howdy Malina-5,
I thought your name had a groovy secret agent quality like Agent 99 or Agent 86. I'm sorry you dropped the "5" when you came to Bettermost.
Toycoon
malina:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on March 14, 2008, 02:26:06 pm ---
I was that way, too. Long before married women started keeping their names, I thought it seemed really unfair that they had to adopt their husbands' names. I had a strong sense of parity -- maybe that came from having a brother close to my age. Everything we got always had to be exactly even! :laugh:
So anyway, now that I'm married I do still have my "own" name.
Just earlier today I was thinking about an old coworker who felt even more strongly about this -- she was so uncomfortable having only her father's last name that she took her mother's, too, and combined them.
--- End quote ---
Hi Katherine! I know, it always seemed unfair to me too, and just... well, kind of illogical! I think the first time I thought about it, I had heard my grandfather say that our family name was going to die out after the next generation, because his only son, my dad, had only girls, no sons. And I didn't get it at first, and then I did, or maybe I had it explained to me - and that's when I just knew that he was wrong! Something about being told that I "would" change my name, like it was inevitable fact, made me ... well, not determined, but just made me realize that I wouldn't!
I know a couple who each kept their own last names, but then combined them into a single name, not hyphenated, but just a single name, for their kids. Luckily their names were both one syllable and it worked. I also know a couple who, when they got married, made up a totally new surname for themselves and their family. hmm. That is an interesting concept.. ::)
malina:
--- Quote from: Toycoon on March 14, 2008, 08:55:41 pm ---Howdy Malina-5,
I thought your name had a groovy secret agent quality like Agent 99 or Agent 86. I'm sorry you dropped the "5" when you came to Bettermost.
Toycoon
--- End quote ---
Hi Toycoon!! I know you liked my 5! And I think I even considered keeping it just for you! But I didn't choose the 5... IMDB gave it to me, and made me take it! And there is a big part of me that just doesn't relate to numbers, and if I had to be a number, I think I would be a 7, because 5 is just so... I don't know... sort of too simple and too complex at the same time! On the other hand, it did sort of grow on me after a while.. But you can call me malina-5 forever, if you like!
Toycoon:
Hmmmm... "Malina-5 Forever"? Tres exotique!
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: malina on March 14, 2008, 09:01:23 pm ---Hi Katherine!
--- End quote ---
Hi yourself! :)
--- Quote --- I had heard my grandfather say that our family name was going to die out after the next generation, because his only son, my dad, had only girls, no sons. And I didn't get it at first, and then I did, or maybe I had it explained to me - and that's when I just knew that he was wrong! Something about being told that I "would" change my name, like it was inevitable fact, made me ... well, not determined, but just made me realize that I wouldn't!
--- End quote ---
So I'm wondering, did this make your grandfather happy? I hope so. But something tells me that for a lot of people of that generation, this wouldn't really "count." Because in much of Western culture, we're so used to linking family lineage/surname/male heir. So a grandfather (not yours necessarily, as I don't know him) might think, "OK, fine for Malina to keep the name, this funny feminist trend will extend it for one more generation, but then her daughter will change hers, and that's the end of that." And to some extent, grandfathers who that way may be right (again, I mean generally) because I think the pendulum toward keeping "maiden" names is somewhat swinging back.
--- Quote ---I know a couple who each kept their own last names, but then combined them into a single name, not hyphenated, but just a single name, for their kids. Luckily their names were both one syllable and it worked. I also know a couple who, when they got married, made up a totally new surname for themselves and their family. hmm. That is an interesting concept.. ::)
--- End quote ---
When my husband and I had kids, we talked about the possibility of using my last name for daughters, and his last name for sons. Turned out we had two sons, so we didn't have to test the cultural norms. But the daughters idea began to seem stressful. At one point I had someone instruct me absolutely not to do this son/daughter name thing -- the editor of my paper, a man I didn't even know that well! -- because it would "be too confusing for the kids." Like, the kids would instantly get it if the mother has a different name from everyone else in the family (as was the case in this particular guy's own family), but they're completely lost if there's any other arrangement. Like they'd automatically assume a sister with a different last name must have a different dad or something.
To tell the truth, I sometimes find it odd that in my family has the same last name except me.
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