Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Family Name

When I was married, I decided to keep my family's name. I could never understand why anyone had to give up their name unless they wanted to, and I certainly did not. I have four brothers, and they all kept their names; the guys never had to think about that. Yann was completely okay with me keeping my name; in fact, he, too, felt like I did: " Why would you give up your name?"

Chelsea and Sacha took Yann's last name. I did not want to add a third name because his family's name was already hyphenated.  

 

Avett brother's quote

 

"Amaro"

Comments

11 responses to “Family Name”

  1. lil

    I too kept my name when I married and my son was given my husband’s last name. Though I bowed to that tradition, I have come to believe that women will be treated with more equality when children take either the mother’s or the father’s surname and there isn’t a preference or a tradition. I’ve heard people say they are happier to have a son than a daughter because he’ll carry on the ‘family name’.

    Reply
  2. Kathy

    Love to you, Corey Amaro.

    Reply
  3. Diogenes

    Both my sisters kept their names when they married in the 90s. Their enfants terribles/little angels (depending on the day) use the father’s surname.

    Reply
  4. Jackie Lantry

    I kept my name too.
    Amaro…does it mean something about “love” in Portuguese? How fitting…

    Reply
  5. Franki

    I took my husband’s name (70’s),and our daughters took their father’s name, but our younger daughter,though happily married, gave her daughter and son her/our surname in order to carry the name forward for atleast one more generation, otherwise the name would not continue in our branch of the family.

    Reply
  6. Leslie in Oregon

    Both my husband and I took the same last name, which consisted of both our original surnames joined with a hyphen. We gave our children the same hyphenated surname, because we wanted everyone in our family to have the same last name. I’m glad that we were allowed (under the law) to make those choices and am amazed at how many women still automatically take their spouse’s last name when they marry.

    Reply
  7. RebeccaNYC

    When I was a child, I could not understand why my mother and her sister had different names. When mom explained it to me, I became very upset. Why in the world did I have to change my name? I vowed then that I never would, and I never did. It’s my name, part of my identity.

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  8. Julie

    🙂

    Reply
  9. Kathie B

    I happily took Farmboy Husband’s last name when we married; after all, I CHOSE HIM! Besides, it was still the custom for most American women back then, so there was no objection from my family.
    It was only decades later that I discovered that my maiden name was the anglicized version of my grandfather’s Portuguese middle name. In other words, it wasn’t really my family name anyhow (it didn’t even start with the same letter!).
    If my family had stayed in the Azores, I’d probably have been named Catarina Henriques, with my husband’s surname added on.

    Reply
  10. g

    i find this subject fascinating as to the whys and whereto ….. I have not married and do not believe I would have changed my name but who is to say on

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  11. Susan

    I also use my own name and I gave my son my name as his middle name. No hyphen needed. Nobody should be required to give up their family name. That said, I am okay with those that choose to use only their married name. It is a personal choice.

    Reply

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