by Jackeline Vzquez

Created on: April 23, 2009   Last Updated: April 24, 2009

Should married women keep their last name or switch to their husband's?

In Puerto Rico it is not customary to take your husband's name. I don't understand the reasoning behind changing your name. One it's a hassle to do. Second I don't think I like the reasoning behind it. It's a very patriarchal custom. Why is it that she has to change her name? Why doesn't the man change his? One of the things that many non-Hispanic Americans don't understand is the Hispanic name system. I think the way we do it is better, still patriarchal but more representative of both families.

When I got married I kept my last name. I understand the concept of leaving your family and becoming one with your spouse. I get the whole flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone, but if you are going by this very traditional, biblical thought then technically it's the man that leaves and cleaves as it says in Genesis 2:24. The man leaves his family and cleaves to his wife. So why does he not change his name? Anyways one reason good reason for a woman to change her name is to have the same last name as her children. Or to realize that you are coming together as a family. But still if you are forming a new family then why not combine both family names and really make a new one. Some people have done that. That seems fairer given the fact that we are steadily heading that way in all other aspects of family life and roles. After all why should the children have the father's name and not the mother's, surely she has more right claim them than he does, and often will. So if you're making a new family then get a name that represents both.

My full name includes my first and middle name and my father's father's last name and my mother's father's last name and I love it. Vzquez is my father's family name and Villafae is my mother's family name. All of my important documents have all four names. I like the Hispanic concept of three or more names because it represents hundreds of years of family tradition. The name that gets passed down to my children is Vzquez, again still patriarchal, but why shouldn't they have my name as well as their father's? At least his name will represent both families. For every day use I just use my first name & my father's last name, Vzquez, but I like to think that I am also representative of my mother's clan as well. This custom is not right for everybody because cultures are different. If I used my full name in the U.S. everyone would call me by my mother's last name, because

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