Hyphenated last names

[coloradoguy]

Did you write an article on the Internet about it? Maybe a blog post?

No?...I remember I posted on here about it last summer.

 

[Neal82]

Hoping to get both male and female perspectives, but I will say I am more of a traditionalist and spoke to my now wife about this well before I popped the question, but why do people do hyphenated last names?

I was always taught, being from the South I guess, that the woman would take her husband's last name and then move her last name to be her middle name. My wife on the other hand legally kept her full name and just added my last name to the end of hers, but officially, on paper at least, her last name is not hyphenated and was changed to mine. Just curious about people's thought process around this.

My wife hyphenated her last name when we married because she'd already established herself academically and professionally by her own name. My last name is very common, and her first name is very popular. Hyphenating her name keeps her from having the same name as many other women in our city alone. To illustrate how common it is, her doctor's office called to tell her she'd had abnormal results from a medical test and needed to repeat it, but it turned out to be an error due to several patients with the same name. This had of course alarmed us in the time in between the call and finding out about the mixup. Another patient at that office with the same name had gone in for the same test around the same time, and they didn't catch the error until my wife was there and they realized her age and other details didn't match up. Someone had entered her records in with just my last name and not the hyphenated name by mistake.

Several of our friends both hyphenated their names when they married. One friend took his wife's last name because he came from a very abusive and dysfunctional family background with notoriety and was ready to start fresh. Another took his wife's name because his own name was extremely common. Another because his last name was Butt and he didn't want his own children to be teased as he and his siblings had been. In other marriages only the women hyphenated their names. And of course some women simply took their husband's last names. Whatever the couple chooses.

 

[Wild Bill]

A wife's name should no more be hyphenated than the name Christian. What is next? Maybe wives should take the guy’s name seven houses down. Hyphenating names is not surprising to me. Just take a look at signs outside most so-called churches. You will find names not found in God's Word, but still profess being of God. The word Christian is a proper noun and needs no further identification to make clear its relationship to the person of Christ. The suffix, "ian" indicates someone related to, or identified with...so, a Christian is exactly what the word indicates, a person who is of or related to Christ.
Ask a true Christian “What religion are you?” He or she will say “I am a Christian.” Ask a person in a ‘Denomination,’ the same question and you will get some type of Hyphenated-Christian response.
If we as Christian men and women are to be faithful to God, we cannot place our will above His Will.
“…Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven…”

Obviously, some people are going to do as they please, but when God gives you direction in His Word it would be wise to walk His path.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22

The relationship between husband and wife has been compared to the relationship between Christ and the Church. Ephesians 5:22-32. The church belongs to Christ and we as members carry His name, Christian, (unhyphenated, Christ’s Church is of the ONE Body). Therefore, the relationship between husband and wife being compared to the oneness Christ has with the church, leaves no doubt that the wife is to carry the name of their husband, and is wrong for wives to carry the name of another. Emotion of ANY kind will never change the facts of the aforementioned, period the end.

Thank you kindly for your time.

 

[Dave-W]

A wife's name should no more be hyphenated than the name Christian.

Why? Give me a biblical chapter and verse that says that and I will agree. Otherwise ....

 

[Dave-W]

A wife's name should no more be hyphenated than the name Christian.

Including if she marries someone named John Rhys-Davies?

 

[RedPonyDriver]

I kept my maiden name professionally. I use my married name in my private life. Why? All my credentials are in my maiden name. Does it matter? I don't think so...we've only been married 18 years.

 

[All4Christ]

I kept my maiden name professionally. I use my married name in my private life. Why? All my credentials are in my maiden name. Does it matter? I don't think so...we've only been married 18 years.

I tried changing mine at work, and I get so many people at work who can't find my email in the GAL, etc. Now I've kept my previous email address with my maiden name (since we had problems with changing it) and people are even more confused!

Personally though, I want to use my husband's last name, and I use my married name as much as possible at work (name tag, HR papers, etc.). It just is confusing at work