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Husband finally allowed to take wife's name
by Broken Simulacra | May 6, 2008 at 03:54 am | 519 views | 4 comments
It's a pathetic state of affairs for a country that prides itself on being a fully modern Western democracy when a married couple has to file a lawsuit and get the American Civil Liberties Union involved just so the husband can take the wife's family name.
When Michael Buday married Diana Bijon in California, he decided to take his wife's family name because he felt closer to her father than his own. Instead of the routine name change he was expecting, Michael discovered that "it would take a $US350 (A374) fee, courtappearances, a public announcement and mounds of paperwork to makea change on his driving licence that is routine for women whomarry."
After two years and legal representation from the American Civil Liberties Union, Michael Bijon was finally granted his wish today.
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May 6, 2008 at 03:54 am by Broken Simulacra, 519 views, 4 comments
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Comments (4)
at 04:10 on May 6th, 2008
Broken Simulacra, I like this story. It's good stuff. There have been several articles over the years about how incredibly difficult it is for a man to take on his wife's name in the United States as well. It reinforces the idea that marriage, historically, began as an institution for imparting a woman to a man as his property. As the concept and institutions of marriage have changed drastically over the past century, the law has been slow to catch up.
at 04:44 on May 6th, 2008
Thanks. What struck me as really silly was that the husband and wife could keep their own names or hypenate them; yet there was so much trouble for the husband to adopt the wife's name.
It's really odd that in places like Japan, which is more traditional about gender roles, it's not such a hassle for a man to adopt the wife's surname for business reasons or when the family has no son and wants to preserve the family name when the daughter gets married. This happened with a couple I knew. The wife's father owned a cinema franchise and when she married, the husband was asked to adopt the her surname to "keep it in the family".
at 10:03 on May 6th, 2008
that is odd indeed!
at 11:59 on May 6th, 2008
I also still think it is strange for a person who wants to marry a royal must forego their own religion and become C of E in order for them to 'reap' the benefits - what about EU Freedom of Religion? How can any one even change their religion, and personal values, at the drop of a hat?
My ancestor 'made up his own new surname' (he wanted a surname that sounded 'more Irish' apparently. I don't think he had half as much hassles as the man in the article did.