I wish women in the U.S. automatically kept their last names when they marry

[Sarah Ibarruri]

249. LOL! Spain has been doing it forever, as have ALL LATIN NATIONS

Portugal, Italy, etc. etc.

I wasn't born here. I recall my shock when I was told that I would no longer use my mother's surname, only my father's. You could've knocked me over. I honestly didn't get it. What kind of place used only the men's names???

Then when I grew up and got married, my husband was all romantic about the fact that I would dump my father's name and take his father's surname. Ahem. He actually TOLD ME THIS. I didn't get it, but since all my other female friends that had gotten married took their husband's father's surnames, and my husband was feeling oh so romantic about it, well, hell, I changed my name to that of his father's. Ahem. It sucked and I shouldn't have done it. He didn't change his name to my mother's surname.

Anywho, that was the second time I lost a surname.

When I got divorced, I RAN, not walked, to the courthouse. There, I filled out a form, paid my money, and voila! I at least had my surname back.

A few years later, I moved to Spain (where all my grandparents were born). Because I worked there, I had to complete all kinds of forms. The forms were all like this:


First name Father's Surname Mother's Surname

That's the way all names are there.

It was rather a beautiful moment for me to have come full circle, and returned once again to my original name. I loved it!

Then I returned here, and once again had to dump my mother's name. Only father's surnames needed, thank you very much.

And that is my bio, as told by the usage of my name.