Actress Zoe Saldana has been married to Marco Saldana (formely Marco Perego) after secretly marrying over two years ago. Marco decided to take Zoe’s last name (even though she wasn’t totally for it) because he says they are equals. She shares in the July 2015 issue of InStyle that she tried to talk him out of it:
I told him, ‘If you use my name, you’re going to be emasculated by your community of artists, by your Latin community of men, by the world.
This is right up our alley because we are always preaching that couples have to do what’s right for them, it doesn’t matter what other people think. – – Marriage is not one size fits all.
Now, with that being said….would I want my husband to take my last name? I don’t know, because of how I was raised in this society, it seems a little weird to me. But, I like it. Marco is right..they are equals. A wife should be able to keep her last name or take her husband’s last name or vice versa. No one should be forced to take another person’s last name.
That’s why it’s important to communicate, communicate, communicate before you get married. This is not a conversation that you want to have the night before the wedding, or worse on you wedding night. Get to know your spouse and learn all about how their grew up, their family traditions, and what customs are important to them – 20 Questions to Ask a Potential Spouse
I’ve even seen a couple hyphenate both last names and they both took on the new hyphenated name. I like that option too.
BMWK – what are your thoughts on this? Would your husband ever do this? Did you take your spouse’s last name…why or why not?
anonymous says
I wish someone would check the rampant patriarchy on this subject. It is absolutely disgusting. No one acknowledges what women give up with taking their husbands’ last name including future earning potential, the cost to pay for all the paperwork changes, possibly ending last name’s existence completely. I did take my husband’s last name but I was only 3 years out of college. If it were happening now, at age 34 and 10+ past college, I would hyphenate or not take it at all professionally, only personally.
Memoria says
You can still change it! It isn’t too late, if that is what you want to do.
anonymous says
Since when did a last name determine a leader in a marriage? Him taking her last name doesn’t shrink his dick.
Memoria says
My now ex-husband (for reasons not related to last names) and current friend changed his last name to mine because he no longer wanted to carry his father’s last name, since he was not active in his life at the time. To this day, about 5 years later, he still carries our last name proudly, and we happen to be very good friends. However, when he had to update legal documents for the name change, the employers had trouble wrapping their head around the proposition, and he had to constantly remind them that the process was the same as it is for women. I have always known that I would not ever change my last name to that of my spouse, but I was fine with the idea of using a hyphenated name ONLY if my spouse would agree to it. However, because my husband insisted on taking my last name and had good reasons for us to not do hyphenated names, I agreed with it.