by Cassandra Baker

Created on: November 07, 2008

I think that its customary to take the last name of the husband, but if you do that it makes it hard all the way around. I think if anything the woman should be able to add the last name on at the end. I think that if you change the last name that is almost taking away from the woman. Not to mention that it is hard as hell to look up someone's history since the name is changed. I do believe that when you get married that you take up from your parents and become one with your mate.I do also think that with marriage it has to be fifty fifty. If a wife has to take the husbands last name then why is not customary in America for a husband to be able to swap and take the woman's last name. Imagine that she taking his last name and her taking his. I think that it would be weird at first, but isnt it also weird if you think about taking a man's name. Think about it like this one hundred years from now and many generations down the line are trying to research you and your partner. The wife changes her name and all they have to go on with her is the birthdate and her married last name. The problem is that she has no traceable ties to her former name unless the generation has her social or something identifiable like that. I am currently doing just that searching for my history and I can always go back with the men because their last names never change. But with women it is almost always a different last name. Knowing that makes it hard to actually look on a census to find the history. As nice as it is to have a new name, it is just as great to just have a name added on to an existing full name. I knew many woman who changed their names and they ultimately had no idea of their former identity. The older a person gets the harder it is to recall the past especially names. I just don't think that its all that important to do personally and men get all hung up on women changing it. Like its some sort of power trip or something. I want to see a man take a woman's name for once. I want to see them switch names. I would even settle for them both adding each others name on the end of their existing name. That would nice. Out of all the people in the world to see people get all upset and frustrated over something so simple is amazing. I think that we really need to figure out what is important a last name or what is really behind the last name or the purpose for it. If being one is important why not both people change their last name to combine them and make one new name. They alone will have it and be able to share it.

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