8 Comments
Dec 3, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

Love this. My wife and I have had our own last names for 44 years. Whenever we introduce ourselves to someone and they look slightly confused, I helpfully point out that I kept my last name.

Expand full comment
founding
Dec 3, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

Thanks for the fun read. Love the picture!

Expand full comment
Dec 3, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

Fern, my brother Jonathan Huntress has two daughters, both of whom kept the name "Huntress." Furthermore the older one married a man who changed *his* last name to "Huntress," since it was being "daughtered out." Now they have three Huntresses and two of them are boys so the name goes on.

Expand full comment
Dec 4, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

I also kept my name when I married almost 40 years ago. It has caused very few practical day-to-day problems, even when our kids were in school. Love the photo!

Expand full comment
Dec 4, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

We have one of those Story County marriage licenses--and Joe was our witness! Love naming traditions and stories. We are about to have a grandchild with a hyphenated name and it's a doozy. After we got married my father called me Mrs. Martone. When I told him I hadn't changed my name, he asked, "How does Michael feel about that?" Pappas, of course, is not the name my grandfather arrived here with--it was Papoutsis. His cousin, another Papoutsis, changed his name to Peterson. More American, he thought.

Expand full comment

“Fern: Yes, when I was a maiden.” Best line ever! One of my weirdest moments of mailing list strangeness was when my i got a piece of junk mail with my exes’ first wife’s first name, and my current husband’s last name, which is not my last name. Sabina Weatherman does not exist! Mashup!

Expand full comment
Dec 3, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

Enjoyed this as well as your other writings!

Expand full comment
Dec 2, 2023Liked by Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

I have a friend who has been married 4 times but has kept her second husband’s last name-Smith. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Expand full comment