# Any husbands here who "took" their WIFE'S last name?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 25, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157 "2003-11-25T08:24:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/1 "2003-11-25T08:24:57Z")
…Kind of an odd question, but a pretty straightforward one, I think.
And, going by the odds alone, one’s got to figure that it’s happened at _least_ once or twice.
So…anyone?
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### Author:  [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/2 "2003-11-25T10:47:20Z")
Not me (and not a friend of a friend of a friend either :D) but a colleague of mine. I knew him before he got married as one thing, and afterwards as another. Obviously no names, no pack drill, but FTR he lives in Canada (I figure that doesn’t give too much away).
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### Author:  [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/3 "2003-11-25T10:55:46Z")
I’ve known two guys who said they were going to take their wives’ names, but I didn’t keep in touch with them, so I don’t know if they did.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/4 "2003-11-25T11:02:30Z")
My girlfriend and I aren’t engaged - well, duh, or she’d be my fiancee - but we’ve agreed that we’ll take a different last name, neither hers nor mine, when the time comes. It’s actually her middle name, so perhaps that counts? Or will count? 😉
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/5 "2003-11-25T11:06:05Z")
MrWhatsit took my last name when we got married. His idea, his decision.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/6 "2003-11-25T11:36:14Z")
I know a couple that both adopted a joint hyphenated name after marriage, although I’m not sure that really answers the OP.
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### Author:  [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/7 "2003-11-25T13:10:33Z")
There was some famous intellectual couple who traded last names (she got his and he got hers), but I can’t remember who they are at the moment…
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/8 "2003-11-25T13:38:23Z")
I have a friend who did this.
His last name was smith. Hers was something more unusual.
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/9 "2003-11-25T13:48:58Z")
I know a former couple who didn’t like either last name, so they both changed their last names to something different when they got married.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/10 "2003-11-25T13:50:10Z")
We discussed it, but after spending my life spelling my last name and correcting people’s pronunciation, it was pretty much a no-brainer for us to use his name. The only bad part is it moved me farther in the alphabet - from R to W.
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### Author:  [@StinkPop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkPop)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/11 "2003-11-25T13:53:02Z")
I offered to take my wife’s surname, but she didn’t believe I was serious so she didn’t entertain the idea. She took my surname and seems happy with it.
We went to a wedding a few months ago where the bride and groom took the groom’s mother’s maiden name. Apparently the groom didn’t like his father (he died in jail, I believe) so he didn’t want his surname any longer.
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### Author:  [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/12 "2003-11-25T14:27:58Z")
My best friend took his wifes last name. His was more of the Smith variety and hers was a bit more uncommon.
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/13 "2003-11-25T15:24:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \*
> \*\*MrWhatsit took my last name when we got married. His idea, his decision. \*\*
Well, sure. Who wouldn’t want a last name like Whatsit?
When my husband and I married, he offered to take my last name, but his was prettier.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/14 "2003-11-25T15:36:58Z")
A buddy of mine took his wife’s last name, and was interviewed by Katie Couric on Today for doing so…
I know a bunch of folks who “double-barreled” their names by hyphenating both…
I know one couple who “integrated” their names, becoming Berklee after fusing Berkowitz and Lee…
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/15 "2003-11-25T15:44:23Z")
I know a husband who took his wife’s surname – at her insistence, I believe, because his name was rather unsightly. (He comes from a family of several brothers, and none of the other wives took the “ugly” name as their own, although the other brothers all kept it.)
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### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/16 "2003-11-25T16:13:50Z")
It happened in my family a few generations back. The wife absolutely refused to take her husband’s last name, and to have such a horribly cacophonic name applied to their future children. Showing either a strong individualistic streak (or a complete lack of a spine) unusual for the 1800s, the husband agreed and took the wife’s name.
Probably a good thing, too, because the name was Hess or Himmler (I forget which).
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### Author:  [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/17 "2003-11-25T16:27:21Z")
My Godmother, before marrying my Godfather, lobbied hard for him to take her name.
She said hers was a nicer sounding:
(Burns) as opposed to his (Braster).
It never happened. He says the main reason was:
"I wouldn’t be a matter of _taking_ her name. To my family, friends, children & casual observers it would’ve looked like I purchased it…with my testicles.
For theists, the compromise usually is:
She takes his name, he takes her religion.
I guess with secularists a coin toss would be in order.
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### Author:  [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/18 "2003-11-25T16:35:12Z")
I’m a little surprised at the number of men willing to do this. Maybe its some dark vestige of chouvanism in me but I could never take my wife’s name over my own.
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### Author:  [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/19 "2003-11-25T17:13:27Z")
My wife and I both changed our names to something different – my mother’s maternal grandmother’s maiden name, because we liked that one the best out of the family tree. I would’ve been willing to take my wife’s last name, I think. (Nothing against my father or his family, but I wasn’t crazy about my old last name and enjoyed the chance to change it to honor a significant lifetime event.)
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### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-husbands-here-who-took-their-wifes-last-name/215157/20 "2003-11-25T17:24:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bongmaster \*
> \*\*I’m a little surprised at the number of men willing to do this. Maybe its some dark vestige of chouvanism in me but I could never take my wife’s name over my own. \*\*
Sooo…would you ask or expect your wife to take your name? If so, why would you expect her to feel differently about her name than you do about yours?
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