Sustainable Nomenclature
Mar. 26th, 2009 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenWhat could we do about the marriage practice of changing one spouse's last name (usually the wife's) to the other's that would make the practice a) entirely gender-independent and b) practical for multiple generations?
The best I can figure is that both partners have to change their name in some fashion. Either they would do it upon marrying--John Doe and Jane Smith would pick or be given third, new name, say "Brown"--or they would keep their names but give any children a new one.
That would certainly fulfill requirement a), but I'm still not sure that it's an attractive solution to the problem of b). Unless the parents took the new name and passed that on, having children with a different name from the parents is awkward and inelegant.
What do you all think?
Oh, and please, bear in mind that issues of being able to track genealogy are lesser concerns to me. We live in an age with adequate resources for tracking down that sort of information if you want to build family trees. I don't think "being able to trace/link back to our ancestors" is an effective argument against adopting a new system of nomenclature. Issues of how couples would choose new names are fair game though. I imagine we'd get plenty of crank names as the internet generations get married, to say nothing about the few folk who would expose their ignorance and/or bigotry by appropriating names from cultures not their own (or enhancing their link to diluted bloodlines with usurpation of old names).
The best I can figure is that both partners have to change their name in some fashion. Either they would do it upon marrying--John Doe and Jane Smith would pick or be given third, new name, say "Brown"--or they would keep their names but give any children a new one.
That would certainly fulfill requirement a), but I'm still not sure that it's an attractive solution to the problem of b). Unless the parents took the new name and passed that on, having children with a different name from the parents is awkward and inelegant.
What do you all think?
Oh, and please, bear in mind that issues of being able to track genealogy are lesser concerns to me. We live in an age with adequate resources for tracking down that sort of information if you want to build family trees. I don't think "being able to trace/link back to our ancestors" is an effective argument against adopting a new system of nomenclature. Issues of how couples would choose new names are fair game though. I imagine we'd get plenty of crank names as the internet generations get married, to say nothing about the few folk who would expose their ignorance and/or bigotry by appropriating names from cultures not their own (or enhancing their link to diluted bloodlines with usurpation of old names).
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 02:21 pm (UTC)Personally, I'm keeping my name. It's partly a sense of feminism (I'm not interested in family history so it's got nothing to do with feeling "ties" to anything), and party because absolutely NOTHING goes well with my first name. :)
Generally, I'm for go with the cooler name, and either both should change their names or neither. As for kids, well, I dunno? I liked the Roman naming system that way.
I wish I had a cool last name. Man. :(
no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 02:35 pm (UTC)Part of me is cheating here since I'm not all that enthused about a) marrying or b) having kids, so I don't have a dog in the fight so much. Would I feel bad if I lost my name? Yes, actually. Which is why even though I would be happy if we just removed the stigma of men changing names, I wouldn't be entirely happy. I think that it must be very hard for people to shed their identifiers. I'm not overly attached to mine, but thinking about losing it does give me pause. I can't help but think it would strengthen a marriage, even only psychologically, to have neither partner forced to give up his/her name and, instead, figure out a compromise (either like PNH/TNH's or a new name entirely).
no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 04:58 pm (UTC)