Wednesday, October 26, 2005

To take a name (or not): that was the question

Shakespeare's Sister again does the business with a great post to generate comments:
"name changes in association with marriage and/or long-term partnership".

The comments board has been pretty active with everything from remarks about what Immigration Services require or encourage or expect to issues of dealing with family history.

For me personally I don't think I would let go of my current surname, partly because it is very uncommon (even in Germany where my dad came from), though I do have a residual love for the name Chapman which as recipients of my emails will know is the name I use there. It was the family name of my great gran etc, so I know a lot of the history of the Chapmans. That means something to me.

Of course, I could always be tempted into taking up another name --- say, Henshall or Tennant...

.... only kidding....

Cloud: you are the one for me (I'm just not about to extend that family name: your bro has already provided the requisite family additions and as I say, my name is too uncommon to let go of that easily!)

7 comments:

Kara said...

Being a married person, I can say that I did not change my name. I don't like the idea of the woman changing or hyphenating their name for obvious reasons (i.e., stems from ownership, patriarchal values, etc.). To be honest, the idea really grosses me out. Seriously. It makes me nauseaous.

Also, I certainly don't agree with children automatically having the last name of the father. That to me is just as disgusting.

JoeinVegas said...

Why not change your name to Cloud? WhiteCloud? PinkCloud? Something else fairly neutral? Or just make something up.

Paul E. said...

This may sound a bit Burkean, but I reckon that any culture that allows people to just pick their name without any system that narrows their choices .... well, it opens children to terrible abuse.

Hippy parents are the worst. You get firstnames like 'Moonbeam' and 'Dweezil'. Imagine what the bastards would do if they could impose surnames as well.

I used to work with someone called Jane Klepper. Her freinds took her off to a Mod Weekender in the 1980s. They lent her the clothes, taught her the dance moves and she started to look forward to it. Then one of them said:

"You can't go as Jane. You're going to need a Mod name. You could be 'Aquarius' or 'Modesty'. Or maybe 'Destiny'?"

She changed her mind straight away: "Destiny Klepper??!?"

John said...

My better half decided to keep her name when we got married, and the discussion regarding hyphenation was very brief: Neither of us wanted to be Green-Gibbons.

Chapman was the name of the school bully when I was growing up. I DO think Rull is cool. (Chant it, it really works)

lily said...

the best hippie name i ever heard was taj - which stood for "ted and jane"

don't change your name. as a woman in science, i wouldn't even consider it - your entire reputation is based on your maiden name (usually) and you damage yourself professionally if you do. plus rullsenberg is awesome.

hey how do i not get ad comments on my blog? they're really annoying.

Anonymous said...

'Shakespeare's sister', and you, should know better. Write out one hundred times, Kate's great speech at the end of "The Taming of the Shrew".

Lisa Rullsenberg said...

Not rising to the bait... not rising to the bait...not rising to the bait...