Vortex, did they end up doing the namechange? Last I heard a few years ago, you were telling me they were going to change it to...his first name??

I don't know if they did it legally, but a last week, they were interviewed by the Post about Eastern Market and they used the new name.

Meara - speaking of your pseud....the other weekend as K-Bug and I were driving to brunch, I was trying to fill her in on who was going to be there and a bit of background on those she didn't know - mainly you, I must admit. But in all that, I forgot to tell her your real name. I kept using your pseud. The first time Lee or juliana used your real name I realized my error and felt like a total dork.

Hil, I hope for the best for your mother.

I have little interest in the idea of changing my last name, unless he has a cool one (which reminds me of a HS friend surnamed Gumpel--I totally tried to wangle an intro to her brother, because I'd totally love to marry into that name, clunky as it would be with ita). I'm surprised by the talk of people dropping middle names. I don't think I've knowingly encountered that due to marriage.

My father changed his name when he left for university. He dropped his middle name (understandably so) and added his mother's surname as his middle name. And he then uses that as his first name, so he's all H. MothersSurname FathersSurname. Works on him.

Had a cousin who did the same sort of thing, shoving the awkward first name into an initial and going by the middle name.

The women? Some hyphenate, some concatenate (my mother is professionally MaidenName MarriedName, but socially just MarriedName), some leave it be.

And the kids just pick and choose. A number of them have chosen to go with their mother's name alone.

eta: Dammit, that article makes me want to change my name. What a git.

Gah. Clowns.

I know a lot of people who didn't change their name when they got married, but after they had kids, gave up and did it.

The first time Lee or juliana used your real name I realized my error and felt like a total dork

Oh, don't!! I totally answer to meara, in real life, as well as to my "real" name. (And to Indy, my drag name!) After all, meara is a name *I* picked!

I always think of you as Meara--and I think I have called you that face-to-face.

Somehow your names are totally interchangeable for me.

I very resolutely think of myself sans-surname most of the time. So this recent explosion of Facebook and LinkedIn feels terribly weird.

I guess another reason I wouldn't change my last name is that I'd probably not use that one much either.

I'm losing my touch. I just now checked to see how far my aunt is from Florida baseball. The answer - too far. Darn it.

Pumpkin fudge.

On the names discussion. I got married at 19, so went with the flow, but I'd probably have done the same thing - exchanging a difficult to pronounce maiden name that was 14 letters and 2 hyphens long for a simple to say married name that was a mere 5 letters. I actually had "friends" who encouraged me to hyphenate the two. Bah!