It's too bad that we are still at a point where the presumption is that the wife takes the last name of the husband and anything else is viewed as radical.

Changing his last name would be symbolic of the estrangement. A real taboo. I know from experience. When we married, my wife kept her last name and I took it. Much criticism.

Or, you can never officially change it but use your husband's last name and/or your birth name in different situations, as you wish. But officially, it would still be your birth name.

You can do whatever you'd like. You can officially change it at the wedding, and then certify that by getting a new Social Security card and drivers license, from which you can then change it on all of your other accounts. Or you can wait until later and get a court order and then do those things.

I still think it's fascinating conceiving how it would be like on a day-to-day basis for men, deep inside, to know that women are far stronger and for women to know it also. The fact need not even be mentioned.

Lol. I pictured it as a double bow.

🤣 You know, I need to remind myself that I am writing to a published author. The least I could do is proofread something that is about 100 characters long!

Omg. "Thought," not "fought." Duh

Oh yes. Your twist was amazing. So witty. So many great details. I'm still quite sure that a lot of the subtleties in your story were lost on me, but of the ones I understand, they were amazing. Hoping that you publish another book in the same story arc!

As always, this is incredibly well fought out. Is this dynamic because of the electric power that women have?

Great! We did it a little differently. When we married, my wife kept her last name and I took it. So we reversed the normal tradition.

Lol. Probably have to get used to things like that. I know from experience. When we married, almost 15 years ago, my wife kept her last name and I took it. There have been lots of creative ways we/I have been addressed in Christmas cards and other mailings over the years.

I did not know any of that history either. For several reasons, matrilineal naming would be more sensible.

And, if that is the case, if the couple is married, it would make a great deal of sense for the husband to take the name of the wife.

Thank you for taking the time out to explain this. It is very interesting. I think, if we all were starting from scratch, it would certainly make sense for the children to take the last name of the mother.

That is so interesting. Who was it? When we married, my wife kept her last name and I took it. We faced, many objections, including the biblical one.

From personal experience, it is very chaotic. When we married, I took my wife's last name. For some institutions and people, it's sailed through fine. For others, it took months, even years, to resolve.

I did it in 2011.

My heart goes out to you. He should have been proud of your achievement.

But this kind of thing dies hard. I know from experience. When we married, my wife kept her last name and I took it. The criticism was very fierce. Tradition, sad as it is, dies hard.

Hope that your next book gets published real soon!

Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. It really is a tradition that is dying hard. And some of the most fierce protectors of the tradition are women!

So true. When we married my wife kept her surname and I took it. We received much criticism.

We were married in California. And when we did, my wife kept her surname and I took it. You are correct. We needed only the marriage certificate, and not a court order.

Agree. It's been legal in the United States for some time. It's what I did when I got married to my wife. It's only fair that the law allows equality.

It's been legal here for some time, and it's what we did when we got married. Bravo.

Same thing happened with me. It's been almost 15 years and there are still issues that come up from time to time because I took her last name.

It is incredibly depressing.

Yes. It really is amazing, isn't it? And women are some of the fiercest guardians of the patriarchal system. Believe me, I found that out first hand.

I did.

This is so true. The expectations in this area largely have not changed, and anybody going against tradition gets a lot of criticism. I know from experience. When we married, my wife kept her last name and I took it. The criticism was immense.