The Name Game

I think before Mr. Beagle proposed, I always assumed that I would just take my future husband's last name and, in the process, drop my last name. I hadn't really thought of the seemingly endless possibilities of creating a new name or keeping my own or even combining both of our last names.

Then he proposed. And during one discussion soon afterward, he told me that he would be perfectly okay with, even be greatly supportive, if I decided to keep my last name. (Um, how did I find this guy... isn't he great?)

The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. My father had two girls and he's the only son of my grandparents that had children of his own. I liked the idea of carrying on my name and representing my lineage. I've been known as Miss Beagle for almost 27 years now and changing my name- essentially becoming someone new- started making less and less sense.

For the same reasons, I understand why people do change their names when they get married. A marriage is a new direction for two people and from that point on, one union is formed. It's romantic and symbolic to share a last name. It' also nice to have the same family name as your children.

On the other hand, I love Mr. Beagle's last name and I really liked the idea of adding it to mine. I didn't want to drop my middle name, which was also my grandmother's name, to add his last name. So after much thought and deliberation, I've decided to hyphenate, so that my new name will be: first middle mylast- mister'slast.

Surprisingly,(or not) I've been criticised quite a bit about this decision, but not by the people who are close to me. It's the people who I don't know very well that usually ask "why would you do that?" when I explain what my new last name will be. I wouldn't think that hyphenating is that odd or unusual in today's society, but what do I know?

What have you decided to do with your last name? Is you SO supportive or argumentative toward your decision? Has anyone else experienced outside criticism?