After Complaint, Miss. Man Allowed to Change Name

[SunSeeker]

Source: ABCNews.com

A Mississippi man has taken his wife's last name after the ACLU complained he was told by state officials that he would need a court order to do so because it was not traditional.

Robert Everhart, 28, of Pascagoula, born Robert McCarthy, changed his last name on his driver's license Wednesday by using his marriage certificate, as many women do in taking their husband's last name.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi sent a letter to Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Albert Santa Cruz on Tuesday, saying the agency was violating state and federal law.

DPS spokesman Warren Strain said Tuesday that Everhart's request was unusual, and employees at driver's license stations were operating under an old practice. He said the employees were informed that men can use marriage certificates to change their names, just like women do.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/complaint-miss-man-allowed-change-17329753

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A true Southern gentleman.

[nolabear]

1. Ah, Pascagoula. My home town. Some good people there.

Glad they're now up to date.

[SunSeeker]

3. Indeed. You can't do better than a sweet Southern drawl coupled with a progressive mind.

[nolabear]

4. Why thank y'all.

[David__77]

2. Well at least they corrected themselves quickly.

...

[jberryhill]

5. Wait, so now she is Mrs. Man?

Or is it his wife who is now Mrs. Miss Man?

I'm confused, so I'm alerting on the OP.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. Hahaha

How DU2 of you.

[jonesgirl]

6. Why is it that its always women who has to change, but men are suppose to remain the same?

Traditions change, and just because the man changes his name after marriage, doesn't make him any less of a man. It will probably make it harder for future relatives to search their ancestry, mainly because the search begins with the last name of the man (usually stays constant). Whereas for women, it's hard searching ancestry because the constant change of the last name being changed due to marriage.

[SunSeeker]

7. Patriarchy; sexism.

And I agree, the decision of who changes their name, if anyone, should be up to the couple, and based on the couple's private reasons. In this guy's case, his wife was the last of the Everharts, and he wasn't particularly enamored with being a McCarthy. And yes, a man changing his name after marriage doesn't make him any less of a man. In fact, Mr. Everhart is one fine male specimen:



http://www.sunherald.com/2012/09/26/4210587/pascagoula-man-needs-aclus-help.html

[jonesgirl]

8. +1

[Bucky]

15. Traditionally, men have better last names.

(*waits for reaction*)

[efhmc]

20. Since all of our last names are from men originally,.....

As I always tell people both of my last names were/are from men. I offered to change my daughters last names to Ellendaughter but that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

[Sirveri]

26. Because marriages were traditionally patrilineal to insure dynastic succession.

Occasionally to preserve title a matrilineal marriage would be granted, but that was fairly rare. It's basically a legacy holdover from 1000 years ago. Nowadays folks really don't care all the much about things like that.

[dimbear]

9. This used to happen fairly often when the wife's family was rich and the husband's was poor.

Keep one eye on the inheritance, it comes in handy eventually.

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. Oliver Cromwell, for instance

who would properly have been Williams if his great-great-grandfather hadn't taken the name of "Cromwell" after his uncle Thomas (who was Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor).

[OnlinePoker]

11. In Quebec, I believe it's a mandatory hyphenated name

I don't believe men have the option.

[FlaGranny]

13. Actually, in Quebec

both partners keep their original name, neither takes the name of the other. It's the law, I believe for the last 20 or 30 years or so.

A thought - I wonder whose name the children take? I'll have to ask my friends from Quebec.

[Bucky]

16. Sounds like Venezuela. You keep your birth name, but kids traditionally get the dad's

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

21. Italy too...

My mom is legally known by her first name and last name with the addition of 'married to [dad's last name]' and my sister and I have my dad's last name, though we could have technically had both last names as it is done in many nations including Mexico, Central and South America.

[FlaGranny]

12. Oh my!

All I can say, as a person who has been working on my family's genealogy, I pity the poor folks 100 years from now trying to do the same.

[LittleGirl]

14. My husband took my last name

when we got married in Dec 06. His name was freakishly long and hard to pronounce. I struggled with it.

My husband changed it immediately after we married. You can also change your name when you become a citizen in this country. You just put in the name change on the application forms and they will change it when you are sworn in.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Wow, and I just recently read about Oregon's name change laws, which

sure aren't dictating who takes whose name, the article mentioned that a newish but growing trend for new married couples is the taking of an entirely new name, not his, not hers, a brand new family name. Sounds like that would cause blown gaskets in Mississippi!

[slackmaster]

18. I have stongly mixed feelings about the name McCarthy

It's both good...



And bad...

[Shitty Mitty]

25. "Not traditional"???

Fuck that shit.

[Auntie Bush]

27. When my daughter got married she kept her maiden name much to

her husband's dismay. But now he's used to it...so is his family. I'm glad she did as I like her name and didn't particularly like his.

[Paulie]

28. I took my wife's name as well

Though I did it via court order. Went from 11 letters to 6.

[babydollhead]

29. I am changing my last name to Brat. n/t