Are you a Mrs?
When Dad2Amara proposed, the Christmas tree lights were bouncing off the engagement ring. And beautiful carols played in the background.
Seriously, it was straight out of a scene of a movie.
I thought back to that day when he asked me to be his wife. And I just knew I would be a "Wagner."
I wanted to honor my soon-to-be husband.
And I vainly I admit I wanted a last name that would be easy to pronounce.
Having a very ethnic first and last name growing up was difficult for me in a very vanilla neighborhood. All of my friends were Molly's and Nicole's and Sara's.
Me? I was a Monina.
There wasn't another "Monina" 500 miles from my Midwest home.
And my maiden name. Well let's say it's not Smith or Thomas.
Yet a certain sadness came over me when I found out I was expecting our daughter, Amara.
I was filled with joy that I was pregnant with our child.
But I was overcome with sadness that Amara would not be carrying my Filipino last name. And because my only sibling is my sister, she too would not have a grandchild carrying that name through the generations.
Our Filipino surname stopped with us.
I recently saw an online discussion over whether or not an engaged woman should take her husband's last name.
And I realized I did not know how to respond.
I am proud to have Dad2Amara's name. But I do wish my family name would live on.
Are you a Mrs? Did you take your husband's last name?
7 comments:
As he has two sisters, my Dad is the last of his particular branch. And he ended up with FOUR daughters. My other sisters took their husband's last names outright. Me? I didn't take my husband's name in full. Instead? I hyphenated.
Actually, neither me or my son took my husband's last name. It's a little difficult to explain at school functions when everyone calls my husband Mr. MY-last-name. (We just let them.) There were no men left to carry on our family name. So I shifted that responsibility to my son. My husband's last name is our son's middle name. My husband's middle name is our son's first name.
Confused yet?
I am a Mrs. but my maiden name is my middle name now. It never crossed my mind not to take his last name. Guess I'm old-fashioned that way. I don't like it though when his mom addresses envelopes to me as Mrs. "Joe Smith" - that is so old-school.
I made my maiden name as my middle name.
I hyphenated... never occurred to me to drop my own last name. My parents got 2 daughters and since my sister's passing I'm the only one in our family. Some of my cousins have my Dad's last name but its not the same.
I am also using my husband's last name. Never really thought about it, but I always knew I was going to take my husband's last name.
I am all for whatever floats your boat...
Hmmm, thought I had left a comment here already..I kept my last name when I got married.
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