A Rose By Any Other Name

I've been so divided about the name changing question. I had to make a decision about it and went with my gut, which was to change my name. Changing my name, however, feels like a much bigger decision than marrying Paul.

When I was a girl I used to believe that there was no way I'd change my name. How could I be one thing for my whole life and then all of a sudden become something else? And just for a boy???

When Paul and I went to our new school in June to get a bigger picture of things there, the Dean of Students told me that they hoped I'd be keeping my name. Apparently it would be a source of confusion on the transcripts, if there were two Dolan English teachers. What kind of crazy mixed-up situation was that? Here I was, an educated feminist, deciding to take my new husband's name, and my place of employment was trying to convince me otherwise. They even suggested hyphenating our names, but I know Ms. Gonzales-Dolan would eventually become Ms. G-D. That would do a lot for my confidence as a teacher.

I have thought about the possibility of Paul changing his name. He is the last Dolan man, however, and the Gonzales clan still has Michael. Paul, by the way, has not been too keen on the idea of me changing my name for the same reasons I had when I was younger. It's not for him that I'm changing my name, though.

So stick me in a box, then, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Tyler Moore, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Can anyone else think of other women who go by three names because of marriage?