It has been decided that I will eventually change my last name. Yes, WOO! The greatest name in the universe, one that often doubles as an expression of “Yipeeee!” It is derived from the Greek name Wootemelagos, which means “awesome.”
No, I am not so thrilled about this, but one morning, several months before Matt and I were engaged, we had the conversation. I think I casually said, “I’m gonna be Michelle Woo forever” and then Matt pretty much declared that his future wife would be taking his name. I never realized how important this was to him and then I started considering his views and then suddenly, we were negotiating my name.
“Well, I wouldn’t change my name at work.”
“Oh definitely. You should keep Michelle Woo for all professional purposes.”
“Well then pretty much, I would just change my name on my license. And I guess we can sign our Christmas cards using your name.”
“And you’d change your name on Facebook.”
“NO, THERE IS NO WAY I AM CHANGING MY NAME ON FACEBOOK! Or Twitter. And I am definitely not getting rid of MichelleWoo.com.”
“OK, that’s fine.”
It was the weirdest conversation ever.
I was cranky for a while. I mean, it’s my name. It’s me. I had to endure years of playground taunting: “Here comes the train! Chugga-chugga WOO WOO!” “Hey, are you Arsenio Hall? WOO! WOO! WOO! WOO!” It sucked. But I overcame it and learned to love my last name. Now I have to start all over with a new one? So not fair.
So for better or worse, I am “officially” changing my name. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll really notice the difference. I mean, I get Facebook, Twitter and my blog — what else is there? And I guess when we have babies, it’ll be nice to all have one name and not confuse the teachers and stuff. And a teeny part of me is even excited to change it. Mr. and Mrs [Same last name] is kinda fun. “Hi, we’re the [Same last name]s!” Cute.
Gawd, I’m so accommodating. Best wife ever.
WOO!
Edited to add: Many people who know Matt and I have said, “Well, you can always hyphenate your last name,” but then they’ll think of what our names would sound like together and they’ll burst into maniacal laughter. Yeah, it doesn’t work, unfortunately.
35 responses so far ↓
1 Randall // Feb 4, 2010 at 1:41 am
Michelle Woo Pee
2 mandy // Feb 4, 2010 at 7:32 am
I think changing one’s name is a very personal decision. I have a friend stuggling with what to do when she gets married later this year. Shes already professionally known by her maiden name and there are no boys to carry on the name so she wants to keep that as a tie to her father. Her fiance feels differently.
3 SoMi's Nilsa // Feb 4, 2010 at 7:33 am
I love what you choose to reveal of your life here. It’s just so cute. Yet, real. Woo! =)
I legally changed my name to drop my middle name and changed my maiden name to my middle name. That way, when I show my social security card, there is no issue if something still has my old name or has been changed to my new name. And my maiden name isn’t nearly as cool (or succinct) as yours.
Plus, who could ever fully get rid of the Woo?
4 MinD // Feb 4, 2010 at 7:57 am
I’ve had this conversation with my boyfriend and we are still lightyears away from marriage. And I still don’t get why the guys want our names to be changed so badly. What if we wanted to change their name to our own?
Woo is an awesome last name, if you ask me. I’d be hesitant, too.
5 Amy // Feb 4, 2010 at 8:01 am
haha awesome. i’m ok with losing my last name, though “mason” is pretty easy and fun, and lots of my high school friends call me mason or mase, so i’m sure that will stick. but josh was even like, “um, you’re not going to make your facebook say “Amy Mason Monacella” right? and i was like, nah, i guess not. he’s all “take my name everywhere” and i’m like “ok.” hahah :) also, mason can be a good first name too. losing it doesn’t really bother me much…at least not right now. :)
6 natasha // Feb 4, 2010 at 9:43 am
How about Michelle WooP?
7 m@ // Feb 4, 2010 at 10:00 am
If you look at the way marriage is viewed by our government, it’s the forming of a corporation. What I am doing is a buyout of the Woo Company, including all assets, intellectual property, and name rights. Hostile takeover!
8 Ali // Feb 4, 2010 at 10:25 am
Ha! Glad you two worked this out.
And to that I say WOO!
9 Andrea // Feb 4, 2010 at 10:45 am
“I get Facebook, Twitter and my blog — what else is there?” BASICALLY.
Michelle Woopee!
10 Amie // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:12 am
I can totally relate to your playground taunting days! I got ‘Hey, do you love to ‘Thai’ your shoes?’, ‘You must love wearing ‘Thai’s’!”, ‘Hey, Thigh Master’…hahaha. One of my close friends calls me ‘Thaifoon’. I’ll miss having funny stories about my maiden name when the time comes.
Congrats on the engagement…you’ll make a beautiful bride! Yay Pretty Family! :)
11 Kendall // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:32 am
As my last name is kind of dull and way too easily misunderstood I couldn’t see myself asking whatever woman I marry to take my last name unless she wanted to. To me, it’s just a name.
12 bobby // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:33 am
Really? A person would have to be pretty dumb to mistake you for Arsenio Hall.
13 Rebecca Low // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:35 am
Just a tip: I don’t recommend making Woo your middle name, like I and many other newly married women do. It has given me such hassle at the airport when I get my ID checked and morons don’t know how to read my id. “Is your last name Chen or Low??” OMG. It’s annoying. They take forever because they don’t know if my ID matches my ticket. Seriously. I’m actually thinking of changing my middle name again because of this.
14 F.J. // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:49 am
Matt, you may want to get that in a signed agreement. (CA is community property state; it pays to have a “famous/rich” significant partner, unless there’s a prenup.)
15 Tabitha // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:58 am
I can imagine the bummer of losing the name WOO! But I definitely love the whole, “Hi, we’re the [Same last name]s!” thing. I was lucky in that my maiden name was NOT that great* and my married name goes well with my first name.
*Petrie. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have CRUEL classmates who called me, “Pee in a tree,” or drew the pterodactyl from Land Before Time all over my school work all the time.
16 Kyla Roma // Feb 4, 2010 at 1:54 pm
What an awesome solution- you get to keep it as your working name and then have your other for your home life.
As long as you’re comfortable and happy, that’s what’s important. Since my entire family is divorced, even my grandparents (lol) I was excited to take Mister’s last name – a lot less baggage there. Whatever works!
17 katelin // Feb 4, 2010 at 5:41 pm
oh i like that compromise. i’m pretty sure i’ll be changing my name for the most part too, but not entirely sold on all of it yet. professionally i may keep my name as is now, a whole lot easier that way, haha.
18 Alyssa // Feb 4, 2010 at 9:41 pm
You’re right…Woo is awesome!! w00t!
19 jimaiemarie // Feb 4, 2010 at 11:49 pm
The convo between you two was HILARIOUS.
I considered hyphenating for .5 seconds and then got over it…what’s in a name right? And if it was that important to the man I love, which is was, then who was I to rob him of it.
There’s also the fact that I got teased A LOT for my last name growing up…so I think secretly i was glad to be rid of it.
I have a confession. Apparently I am 8yrs old b/c I may have giggled at the things the mean kids said to make fun of WOO! on the playground and for that I am sorry. I give you permission to kick me in the shins next time you see me.
20 michelle // Feb 5, 2010 at 12:19 am
mandy – yeah, the whole “no boys to carry on the name” thing is sort of an issue for me too. there are no boys to carry on the WOO! it’s sad. but i guess there are like 10.87 billion Woos in China so we’ll probably be OK.
nilsa – thanks for the compliment! making your maiden name your middle name seems to work well for a lot of people. but if i did that, my name would be a little ridiculous. ahhh, why can’t matt have a cool last name like kennedy? or pitt.
mind – i know, so not fair, huh?
amy – i love mason! it’s so pretty.
natasha – no cuz people like you will make fun of me! :)
m@ – worst business decision ever.
ali- woo to you too!
andrea – woopee. woopee. nope, can’t get used to it.
amie – thigh master! bahahahahaha. that’s so awesome.
kendall – i agree.
bobby – what, we don’t look alike?
rebecca – aw, i can see how that can get annoying. what would you change it to?
f.j. – uhh, ok.
tabitha – i am extremely impressed that you can spell pterodactyl. (i just copied and pasted.)
kyla – yep, agree that everyone should just do what they’re comfortable with.
katelin – i’d recommend keeping your maiden name for work purposes … especially if you’ve already established yourself in an industry with your maiden name.
alyssa – thanks!
jimaie – it’s ok. chugga chugga woo woo is kinda funny. :)
21 jill // Feb 6, 2010 at 3:20 am
you should do what you feel comfortable with! i kept my last name, for various reasons, and shyam kept his, for various reasons. if you find yourself rationalizing your decision, you might want to think about it some more. sure, its just a name, but it is YOUR name!
on a somewhat related note, our friends simply made up a fake, merged name for us: we’re the patuni’s!
22 Desiree Sun // Feb 8, 2010 at 3:45 pm
I never want to change my name!!! I love SUN = source of all energy and power!
23 Jen // Feb 8, 2010 at 7:14 pm
O.M.G! Matt’s response is possibly the best thing ever! I get it though, Michelle. I used to hate my name, and within the last few years, it makes my lip quiver to think of getting rid of it one day :( As you get older, your name accumulates power. It’s like a snowball of achievements.
24 Penny // Feb 9, 2010 at 3:50 pm
The copy editor in me has to point out this technicality to women debating hyphenating or not:
If you want a combo last name (as in, both are considered your last name, not one is your maiden-name-turned-middle), then you’d better hyphenate. Because our policy is to use ONLY the last, last name on second reference if there is no hyphen. Which is lame to married women, and all people who come from ethnic backgrounds with complicated nomenclature.
Also, make VERY CLEAR to the DMV whether you want a hyphen or not — as my friend Janelle discovered (they added a hyphen on her license but she didn’t want it, so she had to make a return trip to get it corrected).
Ugh. Living in a patriarchal world is SO annoying.
I’m only changing my name if it makes it funny, like Penny Hana.
25 Penny // Feb 9, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Oh, and one more technicality — you can say you are Mrs. [his last name] anyway, without legally changing your name. Because TECHNICALLY, and properly, you should never, never say “Mrs. [girl's FIRST name] [boy's LAST name].”
Mrs. should always be used with both the husband’s first and last name. And you’re not legally changing your first name to his, right? So feel free to use Mrs. [boy's last name] with abandon, whether or not you’ve had it changed officially.
It’s one more way in which we lose our identity, but hey, it’s a nice loophole.
(And technically, and properly, you should use “Mrs. [his last name]” only if you are in fact married to him. Cuz otherwise it kinda turns you into a stalker.)
26 Penny // Feb 9, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Yes, clearly, I have some issues about the name-change thing. :-)
27 Kristan // Feb 10, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Mandy/Michelle-
Same situation here. No more Hoffmans (well there’s Dustin, but he’s not in our line :P) so I’m keeping my name. I mean, that’s not even close to the main or only reason, but, silly as it is, is IS one of them.
Fortunately my boyfriend is really supportive.
And I don’t plan on inflicting hyphens on anyone. Our children can have his last name; my issues are not their issues, they should have a clean slate and a simple name. :)
28 Lisa // Feb 10, 2010 at 9:03 pm
I kinda like my own name too. But great jon on compromise (meaning – you get to keep the important things!)
29 nicopolitan // Feb 11, 2010 at 11:47 am
You guys have no idea how much I’m learning from marrying/married bloggers — this is totally something I had never thought about until reading this post. Weeeeird! Cool, though. I hope you keep Woo for as many reasons as you can, and also so we don’t have to subscribe to a new URL. ;)
re: M@ — if this is a merger and acquisition, should I be holding or selling my stock in “Woo!” ?
30 rachel // Feb 11, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I am not sure if I would have changed my name had my first name with my husband’s name not sounded so much more awesome than my maiden name which I never liked. If I had a fun name like Woo, I don’t think I would have given it up.
Although, at our wedding party someone did loudly announce that SHE didn’t change HER name because she was a feminist. So rude and one doesn’t have anything to do with another.
31 HCG // Feb 16, 2010 at 11:47 am
hyphenated for work/kiddie type situations and if someone calls me Mrs. [his name] I’m not going to balk. but everything else is as it was pre-marriage, as in all matters financial and legal and home and car…
32 Robert // Feb 18, 2010 at 2:16 am
Why not just say to him, “No, *you* change *your* last name!”
33 Nina // Feb 19, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I didn’t want to change my last name, but then I did because it meant a lot to Yubo and his family and I figured, eh whatevs, at least I’ll have the same name as my kids.
Then for awhile I regretted it because MY NAAAAME! (I did keep it as a second middle name but still.)
Now I’m glad I did it for various reasons, but I still think it sort of blows that women are the default to change their names. Why can’t men take their wives’ names? Seriously sucks.
But it would make all that form filling out really complicated.
34 C // Feb 23, 2010 at 9:12 am
I’m coming up on my 7th year of marriage and I JUST changed my name. In my husband’s culture (Ethiopian) the women typically keep their names and the children get the father’s first name as their last but because we think we’re going to be starting a family soon, we think it will be easier if we all share one name. I never thought I’d care that much about sharing the name, but I like it a lot.
35 Tiffany // Feb 28, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I’m going to change my name…almost 3 years later… ;)
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