# married women only **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227 "2003-01-02T17:36:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/41 "2003-01-03T07:29:13Z")
Yeah, I like my married name better–because it’s my married name. I realize how politically incorrect such a sentiment seems to be these days, but that’s the way I feel. I never had any doubts about taking my husband’s name, nor any regrets. And after 17 years of marriage, I’m still proud to be called _ **Mrs.** _ Guess that puts me out of the running for president of NOW, huh? 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/42 "2003-01-03T11:23:07Z")
I have a fairly unique Czech name. It begins with Z, which is cool IMHO, and while I often have to spell it for people it’s not actually hard. When I got married, I didn’t change it, even though my husband’s name is easier (it’s a common German surname). It was 50% laziness (I didn’t want to do the paperwork) and 50% sort of digging my own name and being used to it. I had published under it too (although admittedly not much). I go by my husband’s last name sometimes, as I don’t feel real strongly about it. I use it in the Junior League, for example. But there are times when they go to alphabetize us and I can’t get used to being in the middle of the pack! I want to hang out with the W’s and Z’s like I always have. ---
**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/43 "2003-01-03T13:24:57Z")
Both my maiden name and married name are nice. No problems with either of them. Double barrelling our names sounded quite hokey, so I took his name, though he prefers my maiden name to his own. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/44 "2003-01-03T14:19:23Z")
I changed my name as soon as I got married. I originally wasn’t planning to. My maiden name identified me as quite the waspy Protestant. And my married name is Irish, as was my husband’s family at some time or another. I didn’t want to be identified as Irish. But then I said what the heck, and took my husband’s name. I also took the equally difficult plunge of pooling all our money & bank accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/45 "2003-01-03T20:21:08Z")
Oh, and when I am called \*Mrs. Arndt \*, I always say: "Mrs. Arndt is my mother in law. You may call me Mr. Arndt. " 🙂 ( Thanks to Drew Carey.) ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/46 "2003-01-03T21:15:01Z")
Thanks for all these interesting responses. 🙂 vanilla Hunter ---
**Author:** ![Basandre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@Basandre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Basandre)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/47 "2003-01-03T21:41:52Z")
Just got married this past May, and I definitely changed my name. My first name with my old last name was so common around here (Hispanic), it might as well have been “Jennifer Smith” - common first name, common last name. (No offense to any Jennifer Smiths!) I changed my last name to a, errr… Scottish, I think, name. The only difficulty is that it’s pronounced the same but spelled differently as a girl’s first name, so I have to correct the spelling of it pretty often. On the other hand, even that is an improvement over the name I had before the common/common name - my stepfather’s last name was a 10 letter Polish name. Nobody could spell it, nobody could pronounce it, and I often had to spell/promounce it multiple times for people to get it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/48 "2003-01-03T23:08:39Z")
I changed my name legally after I got married this summer. I seem to be the only one in this crowd that wanted to change my last name for emotional reasons - I have nothing to do with my father, and I had no interest in continuing to carry the name of someone I don’t respect. I might have kept my former name as my middle name since it was kind of a cool Olde English name, but it was a pain in the ass to spell out all the time anyway. I do like the idea of husband and wife picking out a new name together, though, or combining the original two. A fresh start with a new family unit, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Nimue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nimue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nimue)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/49 "2003-01-04T02:22:44Z")
Yes! I LOVE my married name, even though people still screw it up almost as much as they did my maiden name (don’t ask me why… I think they’re both perfectly easy names). My first name (Welsh) goes **much** better with my married name (Scottish) than it did with my maiden name (Italian). Although now I have the same name as a famous actress who recently passed away, so people are constantly looking at my name badge at work and doing double-takes. But anyway, yes, there was never any hesitation in changing my name. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227/50 "2003-01-04T04:03:01Z")
My married name is unusual, easy to pronounce, but it looks weird in print. But it’s sooooo much better than my maiden name which is one syllable that sounds like 2 body functions combined. I couldn’t wait to unload my maiden name. When I was little my only requirement for a future husband was that he have more than one syllable in his last name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-women-only/146227.md?page=2)