On paper, it might look like I have a blended family. My eldest daughter has my last name, and her younger sister has my husband?s. But I?m not divorced, I haven?t remarried and they aren?t my stepchildren (though that would be lovely, too?I?d want these guys on my team, no matter what the circumstances). In my eyes, we look the same on paper as we do in real life?a family of four individuals?and that?s just how we wanted it.
When my husband and I got married, there was no question that we would keep our own names. We both had (somewhat) established careers and, more importantly, we both viewed marriage as a union of equals?we vowed to love each other and grow old together. Neither of us wanted the other to change identities.
But when it came to any potential children, we weren?t quite sure how to proceed. The thing is, our two family names are too phonetically similar to sound good together?it would make a mushy mess that would only become compounded in the next generation if our kids married people with hyphenated names. Plus, it didn?t feel right for my family history and heritage to be tucked away as a second middle name (and a mushy-sounding full name) or discarded entirely in favour of my husband?s history and heritage. This post is part of The Canada Project. You can find out more by clicking the image above.
This was our first concrete decision as parents, and we took it seriously?like, really seriously. Though we never talked about it in manifesto-like terms, we wa...