When we marry I'd like five last names, if you please.
I have a rant, and I think you'll either agree with me wholeheartedly or completely flame me over this.
I cannot stand it when a woman insists on hyphenating her married name with her maiden name. To see people saddled with two or three surnames is just mean-spirited. I understand that women want to express their independence and their non-subjugation to their husband, but stop thinking about yourself for a moment...
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
I know several children who have their parents' names, both with a big ol' hyphen in the middle. One in particular, he was one of my Cub Scouts last year. His name is Xavier C-W (not gonna put his whole name out on the web, especially since he is a minor...) and this poor little boy has two names. But, when I met his dad, he had the same name! Hugh C-W! Turns out HIS mother had insisted on keeping her surname. And their child, the dad of my Cub Scout, was saddled with the C-W surname. And his wife, when they married, had to take on the C-W surname. (Or, even more laughably, her own surname hyphenated along with her husband's already hyphenated surname!) And the grandson suffers, as will the grandson (my Scout) when he gets married and has children of his own. Turns out Mrs. C, generations back, will burden her progeny for generations to come.
I have another friend, this time a grown one, who recently got married. His name was Christopher G-M. Three long names in their own right, surnames dumped upon him at birth. His new wife had to take them, as well. As will their children.
I have it on good authority that until recently, in Quebec, the children had been forced to mandatorily take on both parents' surnames at birth. So as not to cause consternation, I guess. But then, a couple generations later, the problem was that people who already had two last names were marrying people who already had two last names... as you can see, this was getting out of hand. Four surnames, then eight, then sixteen. Reminds me of a bacterial infection or a mathematics problem.
MANDATORY DISCLAIMER:
I realize that I am a man. And my wife took my last name.
But she did so creatively! Her maiden name was C. Her middle name is now C, and her last name (like mine) is R. She is Bonnie C. R.... And when she got her college diploma, though she had earned it before she got married, she had it typed up with her married name.
All I ask is that when you're about to get married, please consider the long-term consequences of your actions. You may want your identity now, but will your great-grandchildren want it, too?