You don't have to answer this, but does not changing your name have anything to do with your ethnicity?
For me, I've always wanted to keep my name because it was an indentity thing...that if I took someone else's name it would no longer be an indication of my Japanese heritage. The funny thing is, I'm fourth generation and my family is in no way the type to "pass on the family name" or anything like that. Yet for me, as much as I've always sort of hated having a last name that no one can pronounce right to this day, it is still a part of who I am and is directly linked to being an Asian American.
Man, that sounds so very political or something, but honestly, it's a strange, innate, gut feeling that I think about when I think about the name change debate.
Actually I feel the exact same way. Would I be as vehemently anti-changing my name if I weren't Asian? For the most part I think so. But if I took HTB's name, I would definitely be losing a significant marker of my Korean-ness and that's definitely something I'm not willing to do.
My last name is misspelled and mispronounced more ways than anyone could imagine and there were definitely sometimes when I was a kid that I really wished it was Kim or Park, something simple! But I'm still pretty attached to it, I'm quite fond of the fact that friends use it to come up with goofy nicknames.
I have a feeling people in my extended family will be very surprised when they find out I plan to change my name. From their uber-conservative, Mormon p.o.v., I'm a rebel of sorts, and the fact that I'm twenty-seven and unmarried and am about to live out of wedlock with my second boyfriend makes them is pretty much the most "out there" thing a woman can do.
But to me name changing isn't political at all. It's just a preference and, as pointed out above, something I have a gut feeling about. If people want to be political, fine. But I don't. And boo to all those ladies who make narrow-minded "I love my husband more than you do" judgments. Bah.
From what I've glimpsed of baby-related forums/comment threads, it's even worse when you start having children with all the breast/bottle, work/stay at home debates to contend with.
Since I'm unlikely to get married or have kids, I can just stay well out of it!
Leah: You're totally right, the name change issue doesn't HAVE to be political. It's just one of the few things that does get my Irish up. (Ha.)
Anxious:I've seen the same thing, everyone and their plumber has their own opinion about the best way to raise kids and god help you if you're doing something different. Not looking forward to that!
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