I was caught up in a debate at another forum about whether a woman should change her name upon marriage, or keep it. I'm of the opinion that it should be a matter of personal choice.

The militant feminists who act like women who take their husbands last name are somehow betraying their gender are just as oppressive as the militant traditionists who act like women who choose to keep heir own names somehow are no committed to their marriage - or whatever. I mean, that sort of goes against what feminists fought for in the first place.

I don't particularly care for my own last name, so I'm more ambivalent about it. Some personal reasons I can think of for keeping my last name would be I'm close to my mother (she never married, so I have her name), and it would be a lot of paperwork and hassle - and it would just feel strange to have a different name. If my future husband had a name that I particularly liked, though - then I'd have no problem taking his.

Now, if I had a last name like Palmer or Rundgren, I'd be more resistent about changing it. I remember feeling disappointed that Liv Tyler changed her last name from Rundgren - then I felt somewhat relieved that she kept it as a middle name.

BTW, I did consider legally changing my last name at some poiint - but then I decided against it.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?

I never really liked my last name. But I don't want to change it either, because it would feel so weird having a different last name. I don't want kids, so I do not want anything with continuing my family's name.

On a BTTF related note, I've kind of discussed this issue with Sabrina Palmer. She married Brad Wilkins. She has several sons (including Dr. Todd), who all have Wilkins for a last name. Her youngest kid and only daughter, though, is Tabitha Palmer.

Then there was that issue with Jennifer Peabody/Parker. She finds out about her roots either from her mother or her aunt (depending on the universe/timeline), and then decides to change her name back to Parker. So her husbands takes her name - which was rare back in the day - and she passes it along to her son.

Then we also Amy Needles, Regina Unger, and Leslie O'Malley (and others I might've missed) keeping their own last names after marriage - and passing it onto their kids. Then there's Rissy, who never gets married - but passes her last name onto her kids.

I recently had Doc discussing with issue with Marty, Calvin, and Jennifer in an early chapter of Double Trouble. Jennifer is okay with taking Marty's name, which makes Marty happy - but Marty mentions he would've been okay with Jennifer keeping her own name.

All in all, a name is not something you should take very lightly. When I heard that some kids may be forced to change their names after adoption - that bothered me, too. While kids who had abusive parents would, without a doubt, be more than happy to get rid of that name - children who tragically lost their loving parents would want to cling on to their name, and I would hope that their potiential adoptive parents would be sensitive to that fact.