No hyphen here
The number of women taking their husband's last name is on the rise. I love my last name. I really do. I mean, I've had it for 31 years. And, when you've had something that long, it can be hard to let it go.
However.
It has never been a question for me if I would take my husband's name. I guess I'm traditional like that. After all, I spent many years as a little girl scribbling things like "Amanda McIntyre", not "Amanda Talar-McIntyre" in my school notebooks.
While I personally don't get why women would want to keep their maiden name, I really don't get why they hyphenate. Maybe it's a control thing, a feminism thing? I don't know. Both of those reasons are kind of nauseating to me.
The author of this post -- former Olympic snowboarder Betsy Shaw --says, amongst other reasons (admitting maybe she just can't 'grow up'), that she didn't take her husband's name because she "never liked the way women seemed to disappear into their husband’s name", which sort of validates my assumption of this "type" of woman.
I'll be blunt.
An observation I often (not always) have of women who hyphenate...is that they're cold. They're often not warm and friendly and they barely show any facial emotions when you're speaking with them. Their drink of choice is Feminist Kool-Aid. And, they're usually not happy at all about having to give people their two last names. Uh, yeah. Who would be?! Each doctor's visit, customer service call, making dinner/hotel/airline reservations, etc. -- requires giving a last name -- in this case, two -- and most likely...they have to spell both of them. How exhausting. And, I can tell it's exhausting by the sighs they let out before diving into it.
I wonder, too, about the husbands of these hyphenated women. Were/are they okay with their wife being like, "Sorry, you came second. And literally...you still do" ?! And, what happens when kids come into the picture? Mom has a different last name from everyone...or the kids have hyphenated names, too?
I mean, everyone has their reasons -- and of course, right -- to do what they please with their name. Itis just a lot of letters, after all. In my opinion, though, I just think some traditions shouldn't be messed with. Besides, when you're in love, and married to the man of your dreams -- why wouldn't you want to 'get lost' in him, all the while building something -- completely together?