The Name Game

I've seen a lot of debate about changing your last name to your husband's after the wedding. Everybody has their reasons for changing, or not changing, or hyphenating, or combining, and I think it's awesome. There's no good reason for following tradition blindly.

Personally, I will be changing my name. For me, it is a symbol that I am officially creating a new family with my new husband, and the name change goes hand in hand with the change in my life. I will be adding my maiden name as a third middle name (and seeing as how my maiden name is a fairly standard boy's name, it won't be too odd).

I also think that changing my last name to my husband's will make life easier for our children. We want at least three, and I don't really want to have to make them explain why their hyphenated last name is so terribly long, or why Mommy's last name is different from theirs.

That being said, P's very lovely Cornish last name has three drawbacks.

#1: It's impossible to pronounce.

#2: It's impossible to spell.

#3: It rhymes.

P's last name is Trevathan. Apparently in Cornwall it's as common as "Smith" or "Jones," but over here it just gets funny looks and hesitant "Trev...Trev...um..."

(For the record, it's pronounced tre-VAY-than.)

And while I am happy to take his last name, there's one thing holding me back. You know Julia Goolia in the Wedding Singer? Well, I'm going to be Caitlin Trevathan.

Yeah. Drink that in for a bit.

It's silly, but it's a little annoying at the same time. It sounds made-up.

On the other hand, it would look GREAT as a stage name!