As I wrote about in Am I a Ms. Or a Mrs.? I didn’t take Wayne’s last name when we got married, which is Pryor. Sometimes this causes confusion, but mostly on my end.
For instance, people will address cards and invitations to Wayne and Courtney Pryor, or the Pryors, or some variation thereof. Which is perfectly fine. Sometimes they’re not aware my legal last name is Mroch. Even when they do and they still address me as Courtney Pryor I don’t take offense because I know they don’t mean any harm. They’re either just trying to be efficient, or, in some cases, ornery.
But there have been those times when people I meet first, say coworkers who know I’m married and know me as Courtney Mroch, don’t realize I haven’t taken Wayne’s last name and think Mroch is it. It’s funny to see Wayne’s reaction.
The first time it happened we’d received a party invitation from one of my coworkers. Wayne flipped out.
“I’m not a Mroch! I’m a Pryor!”
“Oh, so my family’s not good enough for you?” I teased.
And then came the sputtering and stuttering. I let him stew and try to back track for a little bit, then I let him off the hook.
“Ah ha. Now you see how I feel.”
It’s not that his family’s name is not good enough for me either. It’s just that I came into this world Courtney Mroch and by golly that’s how I’m going out. Once he had to think about it from my perspective, he understood what I was saying.
Our names are our identities. In our society it’s more common for the woman to take her husband’s last name, but there are the rare cases where the man takes the woman’s.
“You know, if it really meant that much to you, I would consider changing my last name,” Wayne told me once.
“Uh huh,” I said doubtfully.
“I would. I’d consider it. I probably wouldn’t do it, but I’d at least think about it.”
I knew there was going to be some kind of catch with his statement. That’s just how he is, a jokester.
I know he’d never become Wayne Mroch. And, truthfully, I wouldn’t want him to. I married Wayne Pryor and that’s the way I want him to stay.
Question to Readers
How would you feel about your husband taking your last name?
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