I've always thought it would be nifty to create a society in which couples would take the same name, which would be a combination of their respective family names, thus creating a new family name.

I know people who did that. She was Winters and he was Neufeld, so now they're Winterfeld.

I know people who did that

Me, too. We tend to call my one sister's family the Murphingers, but this was never a serious thought as much as my family's habitual morphing of words and coming up with nicknames.

Aren't Our Nora and Tom the McWaringles? Okay, not legally.

My father suggested that family friends B. Lamb and V. Munn should acronym to Nnummbal, to be pronounced "Numb ball." They decided against this, and kept their names.

They decided against this

Can't imagine why.

Here's the bit where I chime in with my sister's friend's mother who changed her name on marriage to Moyston Cummings, and thinks that's perfectly okay.

I only know the friend, who doesn't share that last name, and I don't think I could be formally introduced to the mother without dying on the spot.

I don't know how your friend manages to introduce her without dying on the spot.

I tried like hell to get Joe to take "Miracleborn". He didn't go for it.

"Wayne" or "Kent" he would have gone for.

who changed her name on marriage to Moyston Cummings,

This is me, being 12.

A lot.

wipes off monitor.

If the Moyston-Cummings managed to screw up the monitor I'd really be impressed.

Hee. You people are funny. I was Kristin MiddleName DexH'sName MyLastName while I was married (and he was FirstName MiddleName HisLastName MyLastName), but the four initials thing drove me batty. I changed legally back to Kristin MiddleName MyLastName when we divorced. Nice, especially since California makes you spell out your **entire** legal name on your license and mine didn't fit. My actual last name was bumped down a line, so people were constantly using the wrong name during ID checks. Annoying. Now it fits nicely again.

In terms of nicknames, I went by Kat for a while (my initials), but it never really felt like my name. It's still a nickname my best friend from back home uses, but otherwise I'm just Kristin. Some of my close friends call me Kris, which is fine, but I am Fay in that it annoys the crap out of me when people I don't know well shorten my name. I had a cow-irker back in CT who I didn't particularly like in the first place, and she called me Kris from day one. Grr. Made my resolve not to smack her in the face every time she opened her mouth much more difficult.

In non-name news, I am at work and enjoying not having a class first period. It's the first day since school started that the rotation allows me to be free in the morning. And by "free" I mean "free to slounge around on b.org."