(Pretty? Yes. Me? No.)
My friend Joleine (ha, I'm going to call you that and there is nothing you can do about it!!) recently wrote a blog post about the trend of heterosexual women not changing their last names when they get married.
I commented (very smartly too, if I do say so myself) on it, but find myself still thinking about her question.
When I was younger, I certainly thought I would take my future husband's name. I even practiced:
Lia Le Bon
Lia Vedder
Lia Keidis
Lia Matthews
and of course...
Lia Craig
But alas, when I actually got married, I didn't change it. Why not? Well, I had a perfectly good name already. Sometimes I use his last name and sometimes he uses mine. Everyone considers us a unit anyway.
And yes, that is my real first name. (I figured it was about time to use it.)
No, it is not short for anything. Yes it is spelled correctly.
Be warned, if you call me Princess Leia, I will hurt you. And not in a good way.
21 comments:
*snicker snicker* I hope someone calls you that so I can see what you do to them.
I have always wondered about that…
At first I thought I remembered Dawn telling me you were married to Martin, but then I was looking at the business card you gave me and you had a different last name, but I always saw you two together, so I thought maybe you were just engaged.
Then you posted about your anniversary or something and I realized my original thought was correct.
I think it just makes things simpler to share a last name.
I would never call you Princess Leia, But your name, it's so pretty....
and like Cami, I would like to see what you'd do to someone who dared :)
By tradition in Russia, women freely have a choice whether or not to take their husbands last name. Perhaps the fact that the middle name (ochestva) is commonly used in conjunction with one's first name in conversion reduces the importance of one's last name. Not sure. I'd say about 25% of women keep their maiden name.
Ooh you called me your friend... how.. fun :)
Now I'm not saying it's a bad thing to not take the husbands last name.. I'm just amused (although I'm not sure that's the right word I'm looking for) at how many people don't do it. I can see why people don't want to, when they have their own reasons.. But I guess it still just boggles my mind. When we got married it was never even a thought in my mind.. I was GLAD to be getting his last name and ridding myself of my dad's name. I felt that I married into a fantastic family, I wanted to at least share their last name as well.
What I don't like however, is women that don't change their name, but then get offended or mad when someone assumes that their last name changed or they get mail with their first name and his last name, etc.. I have a friend whose wife did not take his last name, but gets mad that when they do their taxes for their business it's all in his name.. it's just ridiculous!
But thanks for posting this, I liked it :)
I'm still unsure of what to do...I might hyphenate
My husband was 'hurt' when we discussed changing my name before we were married and I mentioned not doing it.
I ended up doing it and I will say it was (IS) the biggest NIGHTMARE I have ever encountered. It is taking over a year for my work to get it straight. My freakin brothers can't get it straight. Should have left well enough alone, but nooooooo, I love my husband and wanted to make him happy..
Other thing that is messed, is his sister is total white trash with all kinds of bad credit and we have the SAME EXACT NAME except for one letter... so that worries me constantly. Don't want to get mixed up with her!
cami: Thanks a lot. Now I want snickers. *sigh*
josh: So what you are telling me is, I need bigger diamonds?
mielikki: Thank you. It is usually only skeevy guys at bars that call me "Princess Leia", so you are probably safe.
anon: You just made my comments section much more international. Thank you!
joleine: I also didn't wear white at my wedding. (I wore blue). Is that going to be a problem too? ;)
lilac: Nope. No hyphenating here. I cannot imagine writing both our last names. (I can hardly even spell hyphenating.)
bubblewench: Well, you'd gotta admit, if your last name is "Wench" things are gonna be a little tricky. ;)
I dont think I would change my last name either.
ps.......LOVE YOUR FIRST NAME
So do you pronounce Lia the same a Leia? Lee-a or lay-uh? (not being a smart ass).
Stephanie and I discussed keeping, changing, combining, hyphenating and in the end she changed her name. She decided she liked the sound of it better. It would/was easier when naming the kids so we all have the same name.
Le Bon is funny. I remember looking at girl's pee-chees and seeing them writing Simon's name. I wanted hair like that, hair that girls would swoon over.
-Stu
i too was Mrs. Matthews... :)
I took my husband's last name because it was better than the one I had. That makes me a feminist, right?
;o)
meleah: There really is no need too.
meleah: Thank you, my parents agree.
stu: Ok, I'm going to do this once, and only once, so everyone listen:
Lia is pronounced: Lee-uh. Rhymes with c'ya!
misty: Dave, *sigh* sweet dave.
avery: That just makes you a damn dirty hippie.
well aren't those pronounced differently? leia is more like lay-uh, isn't it? you're not that.
and this is where my brain flatlined.
beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
I liked Taylor better than LeBon...I forgot what else I was going to say...got stuck in the 80s there for a minutes.
Eh, it gets more complicated when one has kids. I kept mine originally, but my son has his dad's. That has been for us a constant headache. When I married my beloved, I took his name. TBFKAMS' husband took hers, and their son carries it as well.
And this is where I admit that I thought you meant a different "Craig" altogether.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig
Love the name Lia---short and beautiful...I took my maiden name (god, I hate that term...maiden) and now use it as my middle name....lots of people knew me professionally by my maiden name...that's why I did it that way--no hyphen...
My old name was Dillon. That was quite cool. When I remarry it will be Tennant. I'm fine with that too. David wants me to take his name so that Mr B finally gets the message.
holly: Yes, they are totally different names. But don't tell the drunk guys that they don't understand.
dapoppins: That's fine. That way we won't fight over him.
menchuvy: You are just mean! (Well played, menchuvy, well played.)
hot: Thank you. Yes, yes, yes, ok, got it.
jo: Good luck with that. Boys can be real block heads sometimes.
Ummm, exsqueeze me, but Mrs. Vedder was already spoken for. By me. YEARS ago.
You can be Lia LeBon. :)
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