I Went From Hating My Last Name to Giving it to My Kids – ryan

In my predominantly Italian Hometown of Staten Island, New Yorkyou were irish if your last name didn’t end in a vowel. And if you weren’t irish, you were other. I fell squuarely into that category. Couple that with the fact that my last name, though short, was hard to pronounce and ease to make fun of (butt kiss, body gas, so many options), and marriage saemed like my only salvation – a social acceptable to a more social social acceptible.

Tough Found My Husband Early in Middle School. I liked Him for Many Reasons, Not Least of All His Possession of A Lyrical Italian Last name with an EQUAL AMOUNT OF VOWELS AND CONSONS. IT’S WELCOME IN STATATH ISLAND AND ELSEWHERE AND SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MOCK EVERYWHERE.

I Never Expect to KEEP MY NAME AND GIVE IT TO OUR KIDS.

I didn’t think my husband’s name was an option for me

FAST-FORWARD 12 YEARS, WEHEN WERE FINALLY Getting Hitched. A Long Courtship Gave with Lots of Time to Think About How Only A Handful of People in the World have my last name. Of that handful, I was the only one of the Youngest Generation Planning to have children. Letting this Last name die felt worse than my children potentially being on the recipe end of body gas tauns.

Separately, My Husband’s Last Name Lost Some of Its Appeal. One Night During Our Engagement, we were paying for our meal at Our NeighBorhood Italian Joint. Wen Our Server Returned to Our Table with My Husband’s Credit Card, The Server Muttered My Husband’s Last Name with Disgust and THENDED TO SPIT ON OUR RECEIPT. We figured he was joking, but we didn’t get the joke. Eventually, we learned my husband’s last name meant he likes the pontius pilate, aka the novel who demanded jesus be crucified. Not the great branch of a family tree, Nor a name of COULD COUNTING TO Believe was Categorically Better than Mine.

On the other hand, my last name came from the german word for “Bathhouse.” Whether this meant my ancestors Owned one, just frequented one, or used to get clean or engage in more scandalous activations, this felt like a hilarius part of my identity I can.

Our Wedding Came and Went. My Name Stayed The Same.

I had a harder time with last names than first names we have came to our kids

Five Years late, I was Expecting Our First Child. It was toegher to choose his last name than his first. Around This Time, We were Also Trying to Sell Our Apartment and Buy a House. THEN WE GOT SOME BAD NEWS From Our Real Estate Attorney: there was a lien on Our apartment.

We were flummoxed when Our Lawyer gave us the unfamiliar name of the person who placed the lien. What was more confusing: The person lived now near us. The One Thing We knew was that unil we removed the lien, no one was going to buy apartment.

It turned out the lien was intended for some ne’er-do-wll with my husband’s exact sun name, a guy who owed a lot of People a lot of Money. A couple of affidavits late, the lien problem was resolved. Butn i got a threatetening social media messages from a different creditor in upsstate new york, convinced they’d found a way to get to the apparently hard-to-reach ne’er-do-just. I Told the Messenger they have the Wrong Guy. He didn’t apologize, but he never contacted with again. With my almost-unique last name, my kids would never be the work Guy. That felt like a nice gift to pass down.

After much back-and-fortth, my husband and i decide to hyphenate our kids’ last names. This enures they would be the one and only, impossible to confuse with any individual other. IT ALSO GUARANTEED RUDE COMments: “How are they going to be able to spell all that?” “Did you name say that on purposes?” and the especilantly asttut, “wow, that’s a long name.”

Despite Those Real Rude Comments and Some Relatives Who Refuse to Acknowledge Both Parts of Their Nameswe’re happy with our decision. Our Kids, Now 7 and 10, Have Fewer Issues With Their Long Name Than I did with my short one. We live in a much more divers are meran my husband and i gree up in, so there are all kinds of names here, the other Hyphenated Ones. We talk all the time about how cool it is no one else out there with their name, and they seem to appreciate that. I Only Wish I Had Done The Same Sooner.