ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) – Today’s 98.3 TRY social dilemma is about babies and names. Here is the email I received:
Hi Jaime. This is a very serious issue and we are just looking for good advice. My husband and I have been married for two years. I kept my maiden name when we got married. Now we just found out we are expecting a baby boy, and my husband told me he wanted him to have his last name. I want the baby to have MY last name because there is literally no one left in my family to keep the name. . . it ends with me. My husband, on the other hand, has several siblings and cousins, most of whom are married and have already reproduced, so his lineage is alive and well. We both don’t want to cut our last names. I’m considering using my last name as a middle name, but I don’t think that’s enough. He suggested we flip a coin to decide the last name, but I think the loser will resent it for the rest of our lives. It’s simply too big a decision to leave to the chance of a coin. I feel overwhelming stress in what should be a joyous time. I want my husband to be happy, I want my family to be happy, and I want our baby to have the best name possible. What should we do?
~Alissa
Wow, that’s hard. I say go with the compound name. Husband’s last name followed by a hyphen with Alissa’s last name. Then her name lives on, but her husband’s name is also there. That would be my compromise. Let’s help Alissa.
What do you think? Let me know on the TRY the Facebook page.