Yeah, you stirred up some responses, alright. I'm not too surprised. People are usually somewhat opinionated about names. (Obviously, or you wouldn't have raised the question in the first place.)
My last name is fairly unique outside of the Carolinas and Florida. The combination of my first and last name is almost completely unique. Why do you feel like your name isn't yours, but your male ancestors'? Sure, my last name came from my dad, but it's "mine" as surely as my first and middle names are mine even though they were given to me by my parents, as well. Is my middle name less "mine" because it's the same as my mom's sister's? I couldn't imagine identifying by any OTHER last name. Maybe I feel like my last name belongs to me and my small family because, other than the one or two times I've met two of my half siblings, I've never known Dad's family. There is no huge lineage there or anything. It's just us.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 03:19 pm (UTC)My last name is fairly unique outside of the Carolinas and Florida. The combination of my first and last name is almost completely unique. Why do you feel like your name isn't yours, but your male ancestors'? Sure, my last name came from my dad, but it's "mine" as surely as my first and middle names are mine even though they were given to me by my parents, as well. Is my middle name less "mine" because it's the same as my mom's sister's? I couldn't imagine identifying by any OTHER last name. Maybe I feel like my last name belongs to me and my small family because, other than the one or two times I've met two of my half siblings, I've never known Dad's family. There is no huge lineage there or anything. It's just us.