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I have a branch of my family that was Stewart, but back in the mid 1800s, when someone got married, the court clerk spelled it wrong, as Stuart. Since people used to spell it incorrectly that way all the time (plus many couldn't read or write) the couple decided to just keep it as Stuart.
I would have fought to keep my original name, but I'm someone who thinks that's really important. I even hate when people spell my first name "Tracey."
Evidently these relatives didn't care either way, so just went with it.
I've known several people over the years with very short "nice" last names, like Snow, Carr, White, etc, but they had been shortened from very long Polish, Italian, or Jewish/German names generations before. I guess in the early 20th century, a lot of people tried to cover up ethnic-sounding names.
I think I would. I do know of a family whose last name was another language that was continually mispronounced as a swear word by americans. They changed it. I have ancestors who changed their first names to an american sounding names. Something to look out for in your genealogy searches.
My sister almost did, after a very painful divorce. She stopped when she found out how much money it would cost. She even picked out the new name, and I know I approved.
She said she didn't feel like she was "hisname" anymore, and she wasn't "ourfamilyname" either.... so picking a new name made sense. And nowadays, with remarriages and divorces common enough, no one would question why she wasn't "hisname" or "ourname"....
Actually it would save a lot of genealogical hassle (and public records) if women did NOT change to their husband's name for public record purposes. I know when you apply for ID it takes longer for them to process a woman than a man, because if you are married, you have an "alias".
My sister almost did, after a very painful divorce. She stopped when she found out how much money it would cost. She even picked out the new name, and I know I approved.
She said she didn't feel like she was "hisname" anymore, and she wasn't "ourfamilyname" either.... so picking a new name made sense. And nowadays, with remarriages and divorces common enough, no one would question why she wasn't "hisname" or "ourname"....
Generally, people can file their own name change papers for a fraction of the ridiculously high fees attorneys charge for simple matters.
I have wanted to change my name for years, because I believed it was not my ancestral name. Now I am not sure if it is or not, but I haven't found and probably will not be able to find out what my name actually is. So I am resigned to having a last name that I'm stuck with.
My sister almost did, after a very painful divorce. She stopped when she found out how much money it would cost. She even picked out the new name, and I know I approved.
She said she didn't feel like she was "hisname" anymore, and she wasn't "ourfamilyname" either.... so picking a new name made sense. And nowadays, with remarriages and divorces common enough, no one would question why she wasn't "hisname" or "ourname"....
I agree with you, but I have always felt that when a marriage is dissolved by divorce or anulled that the woman's surname should automatically revert to what it was before the marriage.
Yes, that would mean that children would sometimes have a different surname from their mother - which I find irrelevant to be honest. However, even half a century ago I'm sure that attitude would have been considered shockingly inhuman. But my feeling is when you marry if you take someone else's name, then when the marriage goes bust the name should get "returned."
I had a friend who thought this opinion was "ridiculous" and "awful." When her husband divorced her, she continued to use his surname. However, she later changed back to her own family's surname because she found that she was very annoyed that because of her surname people thought she was a member of her former in-laws family, whom she did not like nor they her. Her kids use their father's surname.
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