Adventures in Naming

You know, I don't really like that just about every wedding blogger feels the need to touch on if they will or will not be changing their name when they get married. It's not the topic that I'm not a fan of, it's the need to justify their decision, and then even after justifying it, usually they get tons of comments saying their choice is wrong, even though it's ultimately THEIR choice.

But here I am, about to jump on the bandwagon, and justify my choice for what I'll be doing with my name after Mr. Cola and I tie the knot. Sigh. But I really DO feel justified....and therefore have the urge to explain....

See, I don't really care for my last name. Even though it's only 5 letters, nobody ever seems to get it right; spelling or pronunciation. It's not really that hard, just that it's rare-ish, and there are so many similar spelled/sounding names. So in most cases, I wouldn't have had a problem with just taking my husband's name, and dropping my maiden name altogether, or maybe moving it to a middle name, which seems to be common these days.

However, there's two issues with Mr. Cola's last name. The first one being that to this day, after having known each other over 9 years, I still call him by his last name. It goes back to our college days, when we hung out with one of his best friends (who's now a groomsman), and he and Mr. Cola have the same first name. So they were always called by their last names in our group of friends, and it's stuck with me. To me, Mr. Cola's last name is like his first name, and his real first name is like his last name. So it would be kinda weird to be Mrs. HisFirstName (to me). I know, I know, that's not really that big of a deal, but wait until you hear my second point of justification!

From my Save the Dates and other things I've shown you all so far, you already know my first name is Morgan. Which in German means 'morning.' All my life I've had people say to me "Guten Morgen," trying to be cute and use my name to say Good Morning. Which is all fine and dandy. Until you bring in Mr. Cola's last name, which basically means 'wood.'

Anyone see where I'm going here? If I straight take Mr. Cola's last name, I will be MORNING WOOD! Not cool! Oh, just imagine the playground jokes! Not that I'm in elementary school, but some of my guy friends still have the joking skills of a third grader. Plus all the other random people who will say "Guten Morgen" to me....and then realize my new last name and put it all together....the horror.


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So. There you go. Yet another justification why yet another bridal blogger won't be straight taking her new husband's name. But I will be hyphenating. Yeah, yeah, I know there will be issues with electronic forms not liking the hyphen. I know, I KNOW! But I don't care. It's what I'm doing, so deal! :) It's what is going to work best for me, to keep my sanity and not have a borderline inappropriate first + last name, and still become a part of Mr. Cola's family as well.

Have you decided yet what you'll be doing with your last name after you get married?