Submitted by: Submitted by padaro1975
Views: 259
Words: 1177
Pages: 5
Category: English Composition
Date Submitted: 11/02/2012 09:40 AM
Piyabalo Padaro
Instructor: Dr. Beardslee Kwasney
English 121
08 August 2012
Does a woman have to take her husband’s last name after marriage?
I was happy when I got married on 23 February, 2009 to my high school sweetheart Felicia
Levi. As we both agreed, she kept her last name on our marriage certificate. After three days, I
returned to my Command to resume work. I took the marriage certificate to my administration
office to change my marital status as required by U.S Navy regulations. I handed the marriage
certificate to the Administrative clerk, Joseph Brandon. When he started entering the data into
the system, he asked me why my wife’s name is not Felicia Padaro. I told him that we chose not
to change her maiden name. He then told me that he wanted to check with the administration
supervisor before he could continue. There are several marriage scams going on in the military,
and he believed that the Administration office needed to verify my marriage to make sure it is a
lawful marriage. The Administration personnel took more than two weeks to confirm all my
marriage information in the court where we married, before changing my marriage status in the
database. The administration supervisor told me it took that long because my wife did not use my
last name after she married me. It seems to me, in 2012, that it should not be cause for suspicion
if a woman does not change her name with marriage. The marriage name-change tradition is
outdated, and we need to allow couples the freedom to do as they see fit without worry of
repercussions from society.
The marriage name-change is an old concept dated many centuries ago, when women were
required to take their husbands’ names after marriage. For economical and unity reasons, at that
time, couples have to use husbands’ names on all families documents to...