What keeps you up at night? Money troubles? Thoughts about how much you hate your job? Or is it the intense anxiety that your partner has a humiliating surname that may one day become yours?
One man recently asked his beloved girlfriend to be his wife… and she said yes, of course. But now she has a dilemma. And it all stems from his hugely embarrassing surname.
The woman took to Mumsnet for advice: “My boyfriend proposed to me a couple of weeks ago, which I am beyond delighted about. He is a great guy and we suit each other well.
“Something that is causing me a lot of anxiety (hence why I am awake at 2.44am) is the prospect of having to take his name. He has a pretty embarrassing surname. I don’t want to write it here because it could be outing but it could be likened to something like ‘Meacock’.
“I like my surname, it is fairly standard, think along the lines of ‘Richards’, and I feel that there is a real dilemma in taking his name. At the risk of sounding petty: I don’t like it, If we have children (which we hope to), they will be obvious targets for bullies [and] I prefer my surname.
“A simple solution would be for him to take my surname – I mean it is the 21st century – but he is pretty traditional so I doubt he would want to do that [and] I don’t want to offend him or his family by suggesting this
“If I keep my surname. I would also like to have the same surname as any potential children so me keeping mine and him having his wouldn’t really work.
“I have thought about double barrelling but Richards-Meacock still isn’t great. I know I am being petty as I would have no problem with taking his name if it wasn’t so embarrassing and associated with penises.”
