Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ut-sally.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!ut-sally!riddle From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) Newsgroups: net.women,net.kids Subject: Re: What's in a name? Message-ID: <922@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Wed, 8-Feb-84 17:43:12 EST Article-I.D.: ut-sally.922 Posted: Wed Feb 8 17:43:12 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 03:10:53 EST References: <6816@watmath.UUCP> Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills Lines: 38 My girlfriend and I have had a few long, if somewhat hypothetical, discussions on this topic. It began when she suggested that if we were to get married, she should keep her last name. I agreed wholeheartedly for several reasons, only one of which was to buck the sexist naming tradition. For one thing, I l i k e her name; it suits her, it's what I've always known her by, and neither one of us can think of any good reason why she should change it. For another thing, her name is particularly important to her as a symbol of her ethnic identity: she is an American of East Indian descent, and although the American side of her personality predominates, the fact that she is named "Pauravi Rana" is a nice link with her cultural heritage. Then we turned to the subject of the (hypothetical) children's names. First and middle names were easy. Pau has a niece named "Mira Michele", and both of us like the idea of that sort of mixed Indian/ Western name. There are, as much as it might surprise you, many Indian names which are both pronounceable and pleasing to the American ear. But the last name was more difficult. We considered all of Sophie's possibilities. Giving different siblings different last names seemed too confusing. "Rana-Riddle", "Riddle-Rana", and "Raniddle" (!) all struck us as ludicrous; "Randall" would be a legitimate hybrid but seemed too alien to us. We were stumped. Finally, after we had thought about it for a few days, something occurred to us. I am a blond, hazel-eyed, fair-skinned European type; Pau is quite dark. All the odds are that the kids would look like her and not a bit like me. If the children would get their physical appearance primarily from their mother, shouldn't they get at least s o m e t h i n g to show who their father is? Why not a last name? -Ding- went the lightbulbs over our heads. Case closed. I realize that this solution applies to very few of you out there, but I couldn't resist posting it. Hope I haven't bored you with too many personal details. --- Prentiss Riddle --- ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.") --- {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle