Giving Your Children Unique Last Names?

[Dynasty]

This was something I had never heard of before. But, a friend of mine knows a couple who give their children unqiue last names- meaning the kid's last name is not the same of either the father or mother (who kept her maiden name).

This is how it was explained: Each child receives a unique first and last name. The last names are chosen from a list of maiden and unused names from the mother and father's parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. They choose the sur names to match the first names. The idea is that each child will be independent and unique, yet still bonded to the family in love and in name.

Do you know anybody who has done this? What do you think?

[chisness]

no and sounds very dumb-weird

[4_2_it]

Even Frank Zappa let his kids keep the surname. This is odd.

[bad beetz]

Like "Moon Flower," and "FruitNuts McCareAboutSh*t"?

or like "John Snuffalupugus," and "Smokey McPot"

I'm liking the idea more and more. If I have any kids out there that I run across I'm going to rename them.

[SackUp]

I'm not a big fan of this idea. I'm a big fan of tradition and family ties though. It is nice to have a sense of belonging and attachment. I take pride in my family and the last name is a common base we can all identify with.

I have no problem with being unique and special, but that is why we have first and middle names. I'm not a big fan of the whole jr. thing, but I would rather have that than some random last name.

[MelK]

Might as well get the names from a chat room:

George Dynasty
Jennifer Chisness
Maureen It
Steven Beetz
Larry Sackup
Philip Melk

[pokerdirty]

some redneck is going to name their kid Dan Druff

[RustedCorpse]

I think we should implement this rule worldwide. Furthermore I don't think anyone should have the same name EVER. That way there will be a place in the world for people with names like Sh4un and John9811

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

Incredibly stupid idea, and instant psychic scarring for life. Little kids aren't into being "bonded to the family with love" while being treated differently. All the other kids in school have the same name as their parents, and you don't think enough of your kid to share your name with him?

"Daddy, how come your name is Smith and Mommy's name is Smith and Grandma and Grandpa's names are Smith and my name is Matusow?"

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
Daddy, how come your name is Smith and Mommy's name is Smith

[/ QUOTE ]

i would be pretty surprised if i wound up marrying a woman who changed her name to mine. that makes naming the kids kind of tough - automatically giving the kiddies my name contradicts the whole hippy equality thing.

my plan is take my last name (schwab) and hers (say, johnson), and combine them to schwohnson for the whole family. it's gonna be awesome.

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
no and sounds very dumb-weird

[/ QUOTE ]

What a comment.

[HopeydaFish]

Meh, there's no right answer in such situations. If you insist on the kids having your last name, you're a male chauvinist. If you let the kids have her last name, then you appear pussy-whipped. If you create some new last name for your kids, you come off as attention whores who are treating your kids' names as conversation pieces and as a means of showing the world how you refuse to cave in to societal norms.

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
The idea is that each child will be independent and unique, yet still bonded to the family in love and in name.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this explanation is a little hokey, but I think the general idea is fun and creative. Why does everyone need to adhere to the same social custom?

That being said -- I actually like this particular social custom, so my kids will have my last name. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The idea is that each child will be independent and unique, yet still bonded to the family in love and in name.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this explanation is a little hokey, but I think the general idea is fun and creative. Why does everyone need to adhere to the same social custom?

[/ QUOTE ]

I always wince a little when people start talking about being "fun and creative" with their children's identities. Some people treat their children as fashion accessories and don't give any thought to the future repercussions of their actions on their children. Most kids don't want to stick out and be different -- they just want to fit in. Giving your kid a different last name than his/her parents will make it look to the world like he/she is a foster child or was adopted. It will be even worse if the parents decide to give their kids "fun and creative" last names...like Johnny Moonbeam, or Samantha Pussywillow.

[RacersEdge]

In the book Freakonomics, he has a whole section on naming conventions across time and economic classes. He actually looks at whether a name can affect your path in life. There was actually one guy one named one son Winner and the other son Loser - (first names). Loser ended up being much more successful than Winner.

[ QUOTE ]
It will be even worse if the parents decide to give their kids "fun and creative" last names...like Johnny Moonbeam, or Samantha Pussywillow.

[/ QUOTE ]

close!

[Dr. Strangelove]

[ QUOTE ]
In the book Freakonomics, he has a whole section on naming conventions across time and economic classes. He actually looks at whether a name can affect your path in life. There was actually one guy one named one son Winner and the other son Loser - (first names). Loser ended up being much more successful than Winner.

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing that was really wierd about that chapter: he's asking if DeShawn Williams would be better off changing his name to (#1 whitest first name Williams, or #2 whitest first name Williams). The latter is my name, first and last, and spelled correctly.

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]


I always wince a little when people start talking about being "fun and creative" with their children's identities. Some people treat their children as fashion accessories and don't give any thought to the future repercussions of their actions on their children. Most kids don't want to stick out and be different -- they just want to fit in.

[/ QUOTE ]

I speak from personal experience in recommending that anything unusual in names be avoided. I was given the same first, middle and last name as my father, which was not all that unusual some years ago, and which many people still do. He was called by his first name, and I was called by my middle name. I was never comfortable with it as a child, and it continued to be an inconvenience as an adult. And that is nothing compared to weird first names and creatively different last names.

A conventional system of names is very important to a child. I know of women who kept their married names after a divorce so that they and their children would have the same name, much as they disliked the original bearer of the name. These things are very important to children, and can have a big effect on them.

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]
This was something I had never heard of before. But, a friend of mine knows a couple who give their children unqiue last names- meaning the kid's last name is not the same of either the father or mother (who kept her maiden name).

This is how it was explained: Each child receives a unique first and last name. The last names are chosen from a list of maiden and unused names from the mother and father's parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. They choose the sur names to match the first names. The idea is that each child will be independent and unique, yet still bonded to the family in love and in name.

Do you know anybody who has done this? What do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

The world is filled with immature, self-absorbed people.

[InchoateHand]

Sounds nice enough. We were just figuring alternating last names, and let the kiddies decide when they are older if "Allen" or "Armstrong" sounds better. No [censored] way I'd get a hyphen, and if kiddies change their names it doesn't matter because they don't have credit cards.

The woman in a married couple I know kept her maiden name. Her last name is Stratychuk, and his is Hesterman. Their three children have the last name Hesterchuk. This is semi-believable as a last name I suppose, so it's not such a big deal. I think it's better than what another couple I know did, which is alternate the last names of their children (yuck!).

[El Ishmael]

Laquisha Darnell.

[spamuell]

I don't have the same last name as my mother. This is clearly the reason for all of my inadequacies.

[MyTurn2Raise]

I think this is [censored] ridiculous. Children don't know diddly poo. They'd choose stupid names that would leave them stigmatized/ostracized for the rest of their lives. The psychological effects would be extreme.

The parents should lose their rights to have kids and have their kids taken away. This open, no rules bs that acknowledges kids as proper-thinking adults is beyond [censored]. Kids are idiots. Groom them to be adults, and don't let them make serious decisions that can completely f up the rest of their lives.

[ QUOTE ]
The woman in a married couple I know kept her maiden name. Her last name is Stratychuk, and his is Hesterman. Their three children have the last name Hesterchuk. This is semi-believable as a last name I suppose, so it's not such a big deal. I think it's better than what another couple I know did, which is alternate the last names of their children (yuck!).

[/ QUOTE ]

"Stratman" is much better than "Hesterchuk", and invites far fewer obscene rhymes.

[Hamish McBagpipe]

[ QUOTE ]
I was given the same first, middle and last name as my father, which was not all that unusual some years ago, and which many people still do. He was called by his first name, and I was called by my middle name. I was never comfortable with it as a child, and it continued to be an inconvenience as an adult.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have the same name as my Dad. Used to kind of suck but now it's great when I need to set up new p*ker, netteller, etc. accounts.

Different last names? Dumb idea. This reminds me of the gag where you can get your porn star name by taking the name of your first pet and your mama's maiden name. Mine would be Prince Stuart. Not bad.

[pudley4]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I was given the same first, middle and last name as my father, which was not all that unusual some years ago, and which many people still do. He was called by his first name, and I was called by my middle name. I was never comfortable with it as a child, and it continued to be an inconvenience as an adult.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have the same name as my Dad. Used to kind of suck but now it's great when I need to set up new p*ker, netteller, etc. accounts.

Different last names? Dumb idea. This reminds me of the gag where you can get your porn star name by taking the name of your first pet and your mama's maiden name. Mine would be Prince Stuart. Not bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mork Busch

/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[pudley4]

dumb.

If they want the children to be unique but still feel an attachment to the family, that's what the first and middle names are for.

My grandmother's maiden name was Kalina. My wife's grandmother's middle name was May. Our daughter's name is Kalina May Anderson.

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
If they want the children to be unique but still feel an attachment to the family, that's what the first and middle names are for.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless of course you have a girl, then her middle name must be "Marie"

[Rick Nebiolo]

I'm still confused (seriously) regarding what happens when let's say Roger Casey-Jones marries Mary Everett-Lloyd and they have offspring named Heather and Cliff?

- Rick

[Hamish McBagpipe]

[ QUOTE ]
Mork Busch

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh, I think I heard this first on Stern. Everyone was getting good sounding porn star names then one of the interns was like Dougall Eisenstein, Morrie Yenkovich or something.

[imported_anacardo]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm still confused (seriously) regarding what happens when let's say Roger Casey-Jones marries Mary Everett-Lloyd and they have offspring named Heather and Cliff?

- Rick

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly. This is MADNESS.

Ladies, change your damned names. We all know it's a completely arbitrary social code, but it works, and nothing else does, so let's stick with what works.

[jstnrgrs]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Daddy, how come your name is Smith and Mommy's name is Smith

[/ QUOTE ]

i would be pretty surprised if i wound up marrying a woman who changed her name to mine. that makes naming the kids kind of tough - automatically giving the kiddies my name contradicts the whole hippy equality thing.

my plan is take my last name (schwab) and hers (say, johnson), and combine them to schwohnson for the whole family. it's gonna be awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would suggest giving boys your name, and girls her's.

[Shajen]

My wife basically dropped her middle name and used her last name as her middle name after taking my last name. First name, old last name, my last name.

Her last name was Hannah, so it works. It actually sounds better than what her parents originally named her.

[jcmack13]

Am I the only one who would want my children to keep my last name because I'm proud of it, proud of my ancestors, and proud of my heritage? My last name has history, an invented one wouldn't.

[Argus]

I went out with a girl for over a year, and we broke up over this (and maybe a couple other things). I wouldn't want any girl I married to take my last name, and that leaves a dilemma when naming children. I've always thought it made as much sense to give children a different last name as to change everyone's last name to match mine. I certainly wasn't planning on any sort of hippie bullshit names like moonbeam, but more likely a traditional family name.

Everyone who says this is stupid seems to just be having a knee-jerk reaction. Yes, it's a custom to do it a certain way, but I don't see much point to follow a custom unless it makes sense and has a purpose. Branding my wife and kids as my property doesn't seem particularly useful to me, so I'll just do my own thing (if I have kids).

[krazyace5]

[ QUOTE ]
Branding my wife and kids as my property doesn't seem particularly useful to me, so I'll just do my own thing (if I have kids).


[/ QUOTE ]

This is ridiculous. How about "branding" them as family.

Why do I even bother, jeeze.....

[Amid Cent]

[ QUOTE ]
Am I the only one who would want my children to keep my last name because I'm proud of it, proud of my ancestors, and proud of my heritage? My last name has history, an invented one wouldn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

I totaly agree with you. Mainly because I'm the last in my family line with our last name. When I married my wife, I told her I didn't care if she changed her name, but our kids we getting my last name (no hyphenated crap). Luckily, my first child was a boy, so he can carry on the name.

Funny side story, my wife has this step sister. Her dad (the step) left the family when she was young so when she turned 18 she changed her name to her mother's maiden name. Then she grew up to be a lesbian and married another woman. Changed her name again to some weird last name on her new wife's side of the family. Divorced a year later and now has a new last name (I think she picked it at random this time). Four different last names in 15 years. Sheesh.