Names changes in Florida - "That only works for women"

[Nothing2CHere]

OK, when I read this article on Yahoo!News just now, I had to share my outrage here. I have a hyphenated last name, and when it comes to marriage and last names, I can point out an example amongst my friends & acquaintances of pretty much every option there is - woman takes husband's name, woman keeps maiden name, woman hyphenates, both man & woman hyphenate, gay couple where one person changes his last name to the other, man & woman both take a brand-new last name - and I also hold dearly to the notion that expecting without question that the woman will automatically take her husband's last name once they say "I do" is antiquated. Not surprising, though, that's what Florida expects, and they've suspended this man's driver's license for fraud because he dared to take his wife's last name: http://news.yahoo.com/florida-man-accus ... 09320.html

[EmiGirl]

I can totally see that happening. Some people in my family are still upset 3 years later because I didn't change my last name to my husband's when I got married. His family still hasn't accepted it at all. They always address things to me as Emily Husband'slastname.

[GeoBQn]

My husband's family was totally fine with me not changing my name (possibly because he is one of three sons.) It was my family that had a hard time with it.

I really hope that Florida doesn't have any legal leg to stand on and has to change their policies.

[lilwriter85]

I feel for that couple and I hope the husband wins his appeal. My dad worked with a guy who changed his last name to his wife's last name about a year after they married. The guy grew up in foster care and when he got married he finally felt like he had a family. His wife never took his original last name and later on he decided to go through the surname change process. My dad said some co-workers were a bit shocked when he announced it at work. Over time people understood why he did it.

[Rosa]

I think he's going to win, and I hope he sues for expenses. What ridiculous bigotry.

[Nothing2CHere]

What I find most interesting is that he got a passport and a new social security card with his new married name! It's been several years now, but from what I remember - at least around here - everything else you change your name on, including your driver's license, is based on what shows up on your social security card. If anyone was going to flag him for "fraud," it should have been the social security people. :roll:

[Dysfundamental]

The federal government is much less behind the times than the Florida state government, though.

Men change their names for lots of reasons: religious and just because they want to, as well as marriage.

[Mela99]

I had a friend from college whose husband did the same thing. All she had to do was threaten them with the ACLU and they folded.

[Dev83]

WTMF? This makes me super ragey.

I took my husbands last name because I wanted to - I had no particular attachment to my last name, while his dad passed away and so he IS attached to his. I liked the idea of us having the same name, so voila! I changed mine. But everyone should do what is best for them - keep their name, change it, hypenate, whatever. To make it illegal for the man to change is beyond obsurd.

[Trynn]

I agree, this is ridiculous.

My fundy lite friends were talking, a while back, about how confusing it was to deal with women with hyphenated names because they didn't know what they should call them. *sigh*.

I personally took offense to their insinuations that women should always take their husband's last name. I am very attached to my name; it's got history and culture. It came directly from the Ukraine. I do not want to change it. Ever. And I don't feel like I should have to.

[Anise]

All the married women in my peer group changed their last name to match their husbands'. It was a little hard when I didn't, but to my surprise, my traditional parents were totally fine with it. Still, it seems to me that it's harder for a man not to go with the default than for a woman.

[Bethella]

He got his license restored- nothing like media coverage to get a quick response!

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-mans-lice ... 43787.html

[silverspoons]

I have been married 2 times and both my husband took my last name. No hypens just straight changed the last name. My second marriage was in Utah, and though my husband got some odd looks at the DMV and SS office and said they had never done this before, they had no issues with it. In fact the LDS church was very happy to change my husbands records right away(got to keep those reocrds current). In fact the LDS church had his new last name before the government changed it. My husbands employer at the time who was an LDS bishop had no issues with the change, he was very happy my husband was honoring my father's dying wish.

It is funny after all I did to make sure our family name would carry on for my father, my daughters says she is going to find a man to take her last name and my son thinks he should change his to his future wife. I was the first one to get married in my college group of friends and now at least half have had husbands take the wife's last name so my kids just see this as the norm.

The only place that refuses to change my husband's last name and we have been married for over 10 years is paypal/ebay.

[Nothing2CHere]

The only place that refuses to change my husband's last name and we have been married for over 10 years is paypal/ebay.

Paypal would not change my last name after I got married, either! And I faxed them my marriage license and whatever info they needed with my new hyphenated last name at least two, maybe three times.

[duplessis3]

My sister (!) addresses letters and packages to my husband's last name (I kept my own.) AND she doesnt spell it right. I don't like my sister much.

[Childless]

Of course Florida folded. They knew they were wrong and there was no way they were going to win a lawsuit. Politicians are politicians after all. No one wants to cost the tax payers millions of dollars when they know they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning. You can't offer a free from hassle name change to married women without offering the same to married men. That's discrimination and it's illegal.

[changemanagement]

25 years ago, I asked my husband if he'd take my last name when we got married. He was shocked. I was serious. I liked my last name better. Anyway, the point is, why not ask? You might get a yes for an answer.

[Mrs Ms]

My partners last name is just a name in his country of origin, but in english it is a word that everyone knows. So if we get married and carry on living in an english speaking country you can be sure that I'm going to hyphenate my surname and his!