Father’s Name…Husband’s Name Or Both? What’s In A Name Anyway?

There is some noise among women these days about using their husband’s surname post marriage. Some retain their maiden name which again was their father’s name and some use both the surnames. Why didn’t this thought come up in our minds that probably we should have included our mother’s identity as well in our names first?

It is perfectly logical if they are concerned about the documentation hassles after marriage (which is still applicable if they wish to use both surnames). But enlighten me if there are any other thoughts behind it. I ponder at times that if we wish to retain our identity by retaining our maiden name why are we ok with our kids acquiring their father’s name alone? Why don’t we make it a point to add our surname to their name as well? Why not let them use both the surnames or just use their mother’s surname?

Well, there is a serious issue which might crop up if this is practised. Just clarifying if my child Anupriya takes up both the surnames it’s gonna be a scary situation in future. Say she happens to get married to someone who uses both his parent’s surnames as well.

Imagine a situation where my grandchild “XYZ” would be named “XYZ Singh Srivastava Sharma Subramanian.” And what if the process would continue generations after generations?

Not inviting a debate here but just trying to understand if I am missing a point here? I think there are bigger issues associated with marriage for women. Leaving our parental home and ageing parents alone and not having an option to continue living with them is the most challenging out of them.

Issues like accepting new people in your lives irrespective of whether you want or not, adapting to changing food choices, choice of clothing, choice of friends, the choice to continue working or not should be more talked about. Changing your name or not is also a choice and you are free to do it your way. But again like they say “What’s in a name?”

P.S. Since childhood I always fancied the surname Srivastava so did not think much before adopting it willingly. But even after 13 years of marriage, I always think once before signing my name.

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