‘I Didn’t Want to Lose My Identity’: 16,000 Readers Reflect on Their Surnames
Toronto said that I hadn’t only survived it, but it had defined me — as someone who was different yet proud of those differences, a survivor of childhood
bullying, a first-generation immigrant with a funny last name who had found her own skin and found her own opportunities and identity,
"I am deeply attached to my father’s family — my paternal grandmother was widowed during the Great
Depression with five children (and one in utero) to raise without family or financial assistance.
" she wrote. that When I was a child and a new immigrant in Canada, I longed for the day when I could get married and take someone else’s last name,
Both my mother and my husband’s mother still use their maiden names, as do our grandmothers, aunts, cousins,
and every other Chinese woman we know." Yue Zhou, 32, Chinese-American living in Singapore.
I think it’s kind of the first time in history where it is more acceptable in our society, or not a social faux pas, to keep your maiden name, which is amazing,
and I want to take part in the ability to have the choice to keep my name." Angeli Humilde, 26, lives in Canada and is recently engaged.
Ms. Yuk was one of more than 16,000 readers who responded when The New York Times asked
women around the world why they had kept or changed their surnames when they married.
