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From: gauchs@unc.UUCP (Susan E. Gauch)
Newsgroups: soc.singles
Subject: Name Changing
Message-ID: <433@unc.unc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Sep-86 16:46:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.433
Posted: Fri Sep 26 16:46:02 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 30-Sep-86 07:26:07 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: CS Dept, U. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 40

I'll probably get flamed for being a married type person posting
to soc.singles, but what the heck.

I think that changing your name upon marriage is a very personal
decision.  I changed mine after a minimum of debate.  If felt
very weird to think of myself as Susan Gauch (married name) instead
of Susan Dyer for the first year or so.  However, now if I come
across some old box with Susan Dyer written on it, I think
"wow, was that really me?".  (I've been married almost 6 years now.).

The decision was easy because my number one priority was to have the
same name as my husband.  When we got married, we became members of
the same family, and I wanted our names to reflect that.  
We could have hyphenated our names, but that seemed like twice the
work, and then both of us would feel weird instead of one.

I never considered keeping my maiden name.  Here's the part that I 
expect flames on.
I find it confusing when a woman keeps her own name.  It gives me
the same sort of feeling as when a man decides to not wear a 
wedding band.  I wonder if there is a lack of true commitment.

I'd be curious to know if there is a positive/negative correlation
between the divorce rate and name changes.  More name changers
may be divorced because often younger women change their name, while
more mature women don't, and this may have an effect on the divorce
stats too.  On the other hand, if it is a sign of greater commitment,
perhaps the divorce rate would be lower.

I'd also be interested to see the stats on divorce vs wedding bands
for men.

In conclusion, I think that every woman/couple has to make their own
decision, but I thought I'd make an argument on the side of changing -
it's not always just a sign of trying to conform to society.


-- 
Susan Gauch
gauchs@unc	decvax!mcnc!unc!gauchs