vange@stolaf.UUCP (Erin L. Vang) (02/11/84)
There are countless options for the last names of married people; here are some interesting possibilities for the couple Mary Jones and Bob Smith: Switch last names--Mary Smith and Bob Jones In this case, any children would have to take one or the other of the last names, again causing the difficulties cited in previous articles. Therefore, a better solution: Hyphenate, using some random factor such as alphabetical order for determing which name will come first--Mary and Bob Jones-Smith Then again, we could be creative, inefficient, and otherwise typical by going with Mary Bobswife and Bob Maryshusband. On the other hand, we could just be rational, efficient, tolerant, and otherwise atypical by continuing the traditional Mary and Bob Jones system, with the understanding that it's merely a trivial custom which need not reflect our actual beliefs regarding roles, etc. Flame if you must, but realize it won't make any difference... Erin Vang ...ihnp4!stolaf!vange