First names, middle names… let’s talk about last names! Sometimes a last name can make or break the overall sound of a name and I am curious to hear your opinions on this. For instance, did you keep your maiden name because you liked the identity of it or just hated the sound of your husband’s last name? Would you change your last name (ex: to that of your fiance) if you already have kids from a previous marriage with your old last name? Would you change their names even if it sounded better/worse? Are there first names you could never use because of your last name? (ex: [name]Seth[/name] Scythe) I used to dream of creating a whole new last name that my future children/husband and I would all take and start our own legacy. (You do not have to give out your last name obviously, I am more interested in people’s views of the ideals and emotions involved with changing a name). =]
Erm, I’m not married yet, not even in a relationship, so right now this is all very hypothetical. I like my LN as it is, but I definitely plan on dropping it when I get married. Maybe using it as a second MN. No matter how awful his LN is, I just love the idea of taking on his name, being known as “Mrs. ______”, being known as his wife. I don’t know. It just sounds so cute to me, haha. And I’m not terribly connected to my LN–it’s a nice, simple, not-too-popular-but-not-weird LN, but I don’t particularly have any attachment to it. I like a lot of other LNs more. I like my LN as it is, though, as it seems to go perfectly with all my favorite names. I don’t know what my husband’s LN will be, but hopefully it’ll still sound good with all my favorites!
As for other children–we’ll see how that works. I’m thinking about adopting in a few years, even if I’m not married, and then he/she/they would obviously take on my last name. I’m not sure what would happen when I get married, then–if he adopts them, too, then they’ll obviously share his last name instead of mine, but if he doesn’t adopt them, then I suppose they would keep my maiden name. I still would absolutely take on his last name, maybe in a hyphenated nature instead, so as to help my adopted children feel like they’re not left out.
ETA: I’m terrified that my future husband will rule out some of my favorites, though–like if he’s _____ [name]Gray[/name], that would rule out [name]Grayson[/name] nn [name]Gray[/name], and even [name]Grace[/name] as a mn for [name]Isabelle[/name]–[name]Isabelle[/name] [name]Aurora[/name] [name]Grace[/name] [name]Gray[/name] is pretty bad, imo. Or if he’s _____ [name]Jackson[/name], that would rule out [name]Jack[/name] as a FN, or if he’s ____ [name]Carson[/name], that would probably rule out [name]Rachel[/name], too, haha.
I honestly think it’s a bit shallow to base decisions like whether to take your husbands name on how it sounds. Maybe it’s a small factor, but if that’s the main reason, yikes!
Our name is similar to Owenly
There are definitely names I couldn’t use with our current last name.
Pretty much any O name. Which is sad because I love [name]Olivia[/name] and [name]Oliver[/name].
[name]Owen[/name] would be particularly tragic, as would quite a few W names like [name]Wendy[/name].
Additionally, most names that have that -ee- sound at the end would not work at all!
[name]Everly[/name], [name]Amelie[/name], [name]Cecily[/name], [name]Coralie[/name], [name]Libby[/name], on and on 
I am a single mother so my son obvioulsy has my last name. I just love names and started thinking about this for the future. I’m not 100% satisfied with the way my last name sounds with my son’s name. I never disliked my last name but I didn’t particularly love it and always assumed I wouldn’t keep it if I got married. And then I decided I didn’t have to get married to change it if I wanted to.
I worry that it would confuse my son to change his last name (although he is young now and doesn’t even know his last name so if I changed it soon there would be no issue lol). And would hope if I ever got married that his name would flow just fine with mine/my son’s as they are now, esp because any future children would then take on his last name and I wouldn’t want the siblings to have different last names (including if he already had kids of his own). Not sure if anyone else has ever considered this, but I think it’s still fun to think about us all changing our last names to something meaningful together as a family decision.
I don’t know what I’ll do when I get married.
[name]One[/name] thing I do know, is I would want to have the same surname as my husband, but I love my surname so it would be a wrench to give it up. I have a great surname, a surname that was borne by one of the great American presidents, and I feel honored to have that name.
I think what I’d hope, is that my husband wouldn’t mind being a “modern man”, and changing it to mine. If that didn’t happen, I think I’d insist on double-barreling!
I took my husband’s ln when I got married because I liked the idea of family unity and definitely wanted to have the same ln as my kids. (I kept my maiden name as a second middle because I couldn’t bear to give it up completely.)
I like to think it wouldn’t have mattered what his name was but in my case it was almost something else so I could see someone’s hesitation. See my father-in-law’s ln was changed by his mother when he was 8 or so. (His dad had died and she remarried so they all took the step-father’s ln). Before it was changed, his ln was Sexsmith. I am not sure I could have taken Sexsmith as my last name, no matter how much I loved my husband. I think it that case I would have pushed hard for him to take my name or for us to come up with a new one.
As a side note I also know of a super athletic family where they decided whose name to take based on a relay race between the groom/groomsmen and the bride/bridesmaids. Kind of a fun idea!
I definitely want to take his name when I get married. I want to share a name with my kids and all be a family unit. There’s pretty much no doubt about it on that one. On the other hand, I do understand why some people keep their name.
Honestly, if I hated his last name I’d be very wary on taking it. Like if it was something like Gassi, or something.
But ideally, yes, I’d love to take his surname. My current SO’s surname isn’t a “perfect” one to me, but I’d love to take it once we’re married because a) I like it fine b) it’s a sign of us starting our own family unit.
Based on “sound” and fitting with other names, I MUCH prefer my maiden surname to my married surname. I really liked my maiden name, overall. But, there was never any question of taking his name. I’m very traditional in that respect. I knew people who kept their own and it just seemed odd to me. Then the question of which ln to give to the children. Always made the family seem disconnected to me.
I don’t care for my married name, in the least. But, it is what it is…and it could always be worse. The main problem is that it’s not an overly common ln, but it is a Very popular male given name. Along the lines of [name]Henry[/name], or [name]Arthur[/name]. When someone asks my name over the phone, more often than not they think I’m giving them my and my husband’s first names. I’ve even gotten questions about why I share an email address with my husband. Some people, when calling my name aloud try to give it a French twist, to turn it into more of a ln, thinking that my ln couldn’t possibly be just boring, old, plain man’s name…lol.
It proved a little difficult to wrap naming my own kids around. For the boys it just sounded like three given names strung out and for the girl, even worse. It’s more of something that you just have to get used to, instead of something that “flows”. 
So, I definitely couldn’t/wouldn’t choose the same name for a given name. That’d be a little ott. I don’t think a little boy named something like [name]Frank[/name] [name]Frank[/name] would be too happy!
As for changing my children’s ln’s with any future marriage, that would depend on many “ifs”. If they had my name from the beginning and the father was never involved, then I think it’d be great. However, with already having their father’s ln, it would be tricky. It would depend on how old they were, and any opinions they had about it. Also about how involved their dad was or still is in their lives. I wouldn’t take their connection to their biological father away unless it was under certain circumstances, like if he was a deadbeat, ______ that was never involved and I just gave them his name to try and get him interested in them and it never worked.
If he was/is a good father to them, and our marriage just didn’t work out for whatever reason, that’s not good enough to remove his name from theirs. Or the same if he was an awesome dad who has passed away. He’s still a part of them and they should have his name as a reflection of the good. If there never was any “good” to connect them to, then it would be open to change based on their feelings if they’re old enough have any.
Over a year later… [name_m]Just[/name_m] popping in to close the thread. =]