Hmm, good to see this thread has come up again.
I've been thinking a lot about this again, and am a little torn. Mostly, I do think it's okay to switch my last name out for ktspktsp's, but I'm a little to feminist to go down that easily.
With all the development of women's rights in the last 50 years, it's amazing that while women are no longer forced to change their names to their husband's, men still have no pressure or motivation to change their own names. Why not ask both people to change their names?
For example, I know only one couple where both people DID change their names. BOTH the man and woman's last names changed and became two words... the last name of the wife first, and then the husband's last name (with a space in between). I know it's still just as long as a hyphenated one, but at least it doesn't have that annoying hyphen... and both man and woman change their names to reflect their unity.
I guess, to me, I fully agree with what everyone is saying about unity and abandoning one's selfish tendencies upon marriage... and how this should be reflected in a common name. I don't like the idea of not changing my name at all. But I also don't like the idea of the man not changing HIS name whatsoever. It just doesn't seem fair in terms of both people changing their identities together.
But I don't see how to go about it any other way, unless to adopt a brand new last name by both people (which just seems weird to me, and awkward). I would like to somehow keep the uniqueness of both last names for both
people, but without a hyphen!
However, in the end I will most likely just take ktspktsp's name and be done with it, because I don't want to fuss around with all my massively long Icelandic names in addition to his Lebanese one. Sigh. Practicality wins, I guess.
