The Quest for a Name in the Year 2010.

This post has been brewing for weeks – along with the post “The Quest for a Name in 1940.”

I realized that we could possibly be in real trouble with surnames and feminism and finding ones-self.

Look – I’m all for people knowing their roots, I’m all for people being individuals, I’m all for people wishing to keep their fathers’ names if they are the only offspring.

But it is getting ridiculous.

Let’s set another scenario and tell me what you think.

Person Jones, is the sole remaining child, and when she gets married she’s wants the name Jones to live on forever. Easy she’ll just hyphenate the name.

Person Jones marries Nguyen, and happily ever after she is known as Jones-Nguyen, until 7 years later when the divorce comes through.

Person Jones-Nguyen keeps the name Jones-Nguyen because is sounds a little better than just plain old Jones. Child Jones-Nguyen has no real choice in the matter.

Person Jones-Nguyen meets her new future husband, who we shall call Lee.

Person Jones-Nguyen married person Lee and can’t see the sense in changing her name to Lee, as that would mean Child Jones-Nguyen has a different name to mum. So person Jones-Nguyen just tacks on another name, Person Jones-Nguyen is now known as Person Jones-Nguyen-Lee.

A child is born – he takes the name of his mother and father, so we have child Jones-Nguyen-Lee. What a handful you say.

This has all happened over 2 generations, what about the 3rd, 4th or 5th generation, are people still going to be insisting on continuing on with this madness?

Where will it end? – 20,30,40 years ago, you married, you took your husbands name out of respect for the marriage and your husband. Now it seems it’s a free for all.

What scares me, is this freedom of choice is destroying our roots, our ancestry, our history and more importantly our identity?

Do you have a hyphenated name?

What do you think your children will do when they marry? – will they change their name to their husbands, or hyphenate their name?

Your thoughts – now remember; please, I’m married because I CHOSE TO marry, perhaps you are not married and living in a long-term defacto relationship. I don’t care, but don’t make this a slanging match about marriage or other relationships– this is ONLY about surnames and identity.