Female Family Names

When I was still a child and growing up, it did not occur to me that the female population may have been lost in the battle of surnames. Of course, there are still other areas in life like the corporate arena wherein women encounter the difficulty or impossibility of climbing up the corporate ladder. But I guess modern times are changing these concerns for women and making it easier for them to claim their rights even when it comes to bearing the expected family name.

Well, when it really boils down to it, the woman is merely being given the chance to keep another last name, the one she inherited. Although that name is originally from the family's married men like her father or grandfather, I think the new laws or policies are already a big step in the right direction. At least now that hyphen use is becoming more common, a woman is able to retain her own last name and can have the option of connecting the surname she has as a single woman to that of her husband's. That way, she is able to preserve both the name of the family where she came from and the name of the family she is about to make.

Surely, a hyphenated family name such as that of the famous actress Zeta-Jones does not sound weird, half-bad, or complicated. It is all just a matter of getting used to and of proclaiming the right of a woman to her own last name. Other people may still seem bothered by these and would rather completely adopt the man's family name, but for me, the hyphenated name is one way of ensuring the children that they should also know more about their mother's lineage and history.

When the world of sci-fi action was dominated by testosterone protagonist like James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Ethan Hunt, one woman had the balls to become a feminist icon. Eidos Interactive introduced Lara Croft in 1996 as the heroine of the phenomenal Tomb Raider, which is a franchise of video games, comic books and movies, centering around the exploits of the British archaeologist Lara Croft. She was a product of several of ideas created by erstwhile Core designer Toby Gard and appears with short brown pants, a green top, holsters on both sides of her hip for dual wielded pistols, and a small brown backpack.

The official backstory tells of Lara's interest in archeology at an early age, but her life in the upper society to which her parents belonged prevented her from fulfilling her desire until after a skiing trip in the Himalayas, her plane crashed and Lara was left as the sole survivor. The experience changed her life and she began to travel across the globe, learning about the ancient civilizations. Her father, Lord Hensingley Croft, disowned her and she began to work as an archaeologist for hire, getting artifacts and rare treasure for some of the richest collectors in the world. The franchise gained increasing popularity when Angelina Jolie played Lara Croft in the movie versions Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003).

Teena Renae Brandon was born on December 12,1972 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and most of her life she lived as a man by the name of Brandon Teena. Nobody knew about her true gender, and she even dated a woman named Lana Tisdale.

She moved to nearby Humboldt in 1993, shortly after beginning to fully live as a man in preparation for eventual sex reassignment. Brandon passed easily as a man, but was discovered to be biologically and legally female by local police who arrested him on a misdemeanor check forgery charge. The police passed this information publicly through the Falls City Journal, a local newspaper.

One week later on Christmas Day 1993, Brandon was raped and assaulted at a Christmas party by two men, whom he identified to local police as Marvin Thomas Nissen and John Lotter, despite the fact that they had threatened to kill him if he reported the incident to the police. Brandon was murdered a week after her brutal debauchery.

During the trial, witnesses claimed Lotter and Nissen were enraged after learning that Brandon was anatomically female, but had been living as a man and was even dating a local woman, Lana Tisdale. Nissen and Lotter were convicted for the crime. The story was depicted in the movie Boys Don't Cry featuring the talented Hilary Swank in her Oscar-Winning role as Brandon Teena.

Children usually get to use, rather forcibly, their father's surname. I don't think it has something to do with gender equality or something - I just think it's still being practiced up to this day only out of habit. 'Cause I believe that, when you talk about gender responsiveness, women are what hackers are in the field of high-tech electronics (in a positive perspective of being a hacker, if I may say).

But sometimes, tradition takes the toll of time, and does not withstand its unusual recurrences. Marriages before pregnancy nowadays are getting rarer and rarer by the minute, and perhaps be nothing more than a thing of the past in no time at all, maybe as fast as how the dreaded AIDS virus attacks the human immune system. This is when children born out of wedlock must bear their mother's surname.

This may very well be the step towards, particularly in this area, actual freedom of choice for women and children. No, men have had more than their fair share of it, and this time, the latter groups should also have a taste of it. Having the choice of which surname to pick gives the child control over certain issues such as property rights, and this goes out to the women as well.

Haven't you wondered why you should attach your husband's last name in your name when you married? From a religious' point of view, as a wife, your man has a legal authority on you. You are his precious possession. Nothing in this world, except the law, can separate you from him.

The moment you say "I do" on your nuptial day, you are giving your man all opportunities in this world to unite with him. This means, you are both living as one body. It is mentioned in the Holy Bible that "man will leave his parents to unite with his wife, and live as one". Man will take his wife, and everything he has will be given to her as half of his life.

As a woman, your maiden last name will become your secondary surname, or middle name. This is to remind you that you came from a different descendant. Since you can bear a child, you will carry the heir of your husband. When you give birth to a child, a new generation will start from you and your husband's blood.

In marriage, not only the wife will submit her body to the husband, but also she will submit her name to him, and will carry the husband's surname to indicate the union as a couple in God. This seems sound Biblical, but the Bible says marriage makes the two individuals live as one. That is why; the girl will use the family name of her man when she gets married.

A woman is blessed to carry her husband's name or surname because she will bear the child that comes from the couple's own blood. During the conception, she is uniting the relationship of the child to his father using her body bearing the surname of the husband. When the mother gives birth, she is also sharing her surname to child, and they will become a family.

However, man should keep his family name clean and respected because the entire family will use this last name to identify them as a family. Family is important, that's why God gave us a family name to know our existence. Although the female family name will eventually change, still she will bring maiden surname as a middle name to remind of her ancestors.