Hey what do you think of my idea?

Question

I just had an idea, I think it's pretty good.

As society gets farther away from traditional gender roles, more women are having second thoughts about giving their children the man's last name (and of course, about adopting the man's last name themselves).

An alternative is to give their child both last names, but that will get very impractical after a generation or two.

So how about this? You use the wife's maiden name as a middle name for your children, or even a second middle name. This keeps the wife's family name going without being impractical. What do you think?

For example: Joe Moore and Elizabeth Cane marry. They have a daughter named Caitlin Cane Moore, or Caitlin Cane Marie Moore.

Answer 1

It sounds like a good idea BUT after it had caught on to save family's names, they would go and change it to something else that probably wouldn't work as good as your idea in saving families' names for the next generations! And two, are you really sure you want 3 middle names?

Answer 2

Well actually my middle name is my moms maiden name. Its also my sisters , brothers and cuzins. And my mom and her sisters middle names are her mothers middle name. So my name is Jennifur-Rose Marine Miller.

Answer 3

This is not a new idea, people have been doing this for centuries, actually.

I don't think this is something you could generally apply. What if the mother's maiden name is Higginsbottom. Emily Higginsbottom. Great middle name. AWESOME.

You can always double barrel the surname to keep mom's maiden name in the family. Look at Helena Bonham Carter.

Marilyn vos Savant once argued, that daughters should get their mother's last names and boys their father's. That is actually a good idea, since women would finally have their own last names, and not that of a male family member/husband.

Answer 4

I think it's a good idea... But it is kind of impractical.

Let's say I marry John Smith, and we have a daughter and decide to name her Isabella Blair, and I wanted to incorporate my last name too. Her name would be this:

Isabella Blair Angard Smith.

Some last names would not make for very attractive middle names... Like mine for example. Or, if my last name was Cox, our daughters name might be:

Isabella Blair Cox Smith.

It's a smart idea, but it might not work as well as you would think.

I hope that helps :)

Answer 5

Alyson Nicoles and Michael Bower

Caleigh Nicoles Bower and Damon O'Hara

Natalia Bower O'Hara and Jason Devon

Evelyna O'Hara Devon and Jakeb Riles

Evelyna Devon Riles

I don't know. It is very much a unique and good idea, but I think it should definitely be choice, and the fact that the grandmother doesn't stay in the name is a little weird for me.

Answer 6

They do that in other countries, but usually by the child's child, the grandmothers name fades away.

People are ALLOWED to change their surnames though, but if not being able to choose the middle name they want could make a step too far.

Answer 7

It's a good idea. But it's not completely original.

A similar situation is already the tradition in a lot of countries especially latin countries.

The big difference in the latin tradition and your suggestion is that in latin countries the father's surname comes before the mother's maiden name. So, the child has a double surname where the first part is inhereted from the father and looks like a second middle name. Even though the mother's maiden name comes last in regular use it is often dropped and when that child has a child he or she will only inheret the parents paternal surname. Basically the mother's maiden name only lasts for one generation.

For example we know the name of the former president of Cuba is Fidel Castro. However not many people knowe that his full name is actually Fidel Alejandro Castro Rus. His father was Ángel Castro y Argiz and his mother was Lina Rus González. Castro's father came from the generation when people were actually named as the children of so and so. 'y' is Spanish for 'and'.

Your idea is still a good one. I think it's more practical than the latin one because what's the use of having the mother's maiden name come last if in common use it's dropped like in the case of Castro.

Answer 8

It's not a bad idea, but it's still not fair to women. An even better idea is to make the father's last name the child's middle name, thereby the child having the last name of the mother. Afterall, it's the women that carry the baby for 9 grueling months and painfully give birth.

I really like how Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban gave their daughter both their names. Now, that's what I call a marriage of equals.