Maureen Mullarkey
2011-04-05 06:29:43
Limiting discussion to modern Western culture, why is keeping one’s patronym a sign of liberation for women? No woman chose her father, the man who provided her last name. A married woman, on the other hand, did choose her husband. By taking his name, she is asserting an allegiance forged in her own choice. By shedding her patronym, she leaves behind a paternal stamp and asserts her own volition. The name change is, in that sense, as much a verdict as a symbol.
