Lo and behold, we are a progressive couple... But seriously, when we were trying to decide what to do with our last names - there are more ways to do this now than ever before (i.e., hyphenation, combination, doing nothing at all, etc.) - we came up with several plans.
Option ONE was to hyphenate, but as you can see below, this was not the most excellent option:
BROWN-GIRDLER GIRDLER-BROWN
How would any future children of ours be able to cope with such a complicated name? People already have such a difficult time spelling or pronouncing Girdler (although we could never figure out why...).
Option TWO was to combine our names. This was an even WORSE idea, noted below:
GIRBROWN GIRDROWN BROWNDLER
Option THREE was to go the traditional route, and just take the paternal name for both of us, a simple
BEN & JENNY GIRDLER
Option FOUR, which we had read on several wedding websites was becoming quite common, was to signify the beginning of a new family by adopting an entirely new name, like
TORGENBURGER, or BLICK.
While we liked the principles of this fourth option, because it allowed us complete freedom with our decision, it also drifted too far from our heritage for our own comfort. We did, however, choose to take a different name than those which appeared on our birth certificates.
We chose ELLIOTT to honor Ben's maternal grandfather, for several reasons. John Thomas Elliott was killed in a traffic accident in 1998, leaving behind his wife, two daughters, two granddaughters, and Ben. Thusly, after Ben's Granny Elliott passed away in 2002, Ben's grandfather's name, his legacy, was gone. Sure, Elliott is a fairly common name (and as we have discovered, even more common in Oregon) - but none remained from Papaw Elliott's lineage.
The decision to take the name Elliott was a difficult one, both for us, and for Ben's family. Ben's mother and father both gave their blessing for the decision - but the rest of the family had trouble accepting our reasons behind it. This was completely understandable to us. How could we forsake the name Girdler, which is just as respectable a name, and a name for which Ben should be proud?
Of course, the point was not to forsake any name. Ben still knows and understands that he is a Girdler by birth - AND an Elliott. A name is a name, but a lineage is not changeable. We chose Elliott to honor the memory of John Elliott, and to continue his name - there are many Girdler men who will carry that name on as well. We decided that in this way, both families could continue to "propagate". And we will continue to respect and honor the Girdler name as well, nothing has changed with respect to our devotion to our relatives.
