A coworker of mine did this. He and his new wife took parts of their last names and blended them together to create a unique new last name for both of them.
A lot of last names here are frozen patronyms (e.g. at some point some dude named Hans had kids; now there are lots of people calling themselves his son, Hansen) or place names. I kinda like the place name bit: Just give kids last names to a place they have a connection to. Where they were born or conceived or something.
Sorry, but unfortunately I got interested and followed your link:
There is a popular legend that "hooker" as a slang term for a prostitute is derived from his last name[26] because of parties and a lack of military discipline at his headquarters near the Murder Bay district of Washington, DC. Some versions of the legend claim that the band of prostitutes that followed his division was derisively referred to as "General Hooker's Army" or "Hooker's Brigade".[27] However, the term "hooker" was used in print as early as 1845, years before Hooker was a public figure,[28] and is likely derived from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the Corlear's Hook area of Manhattan in the early to middle 19th century, who came to be referred to as "hookers".
Yeah, doesn't seem to be a thing in Norway, but it could probably be revived for the countries that did that. Like Sheryl Copywriter or Ross Youtuber or whatever.
“Tallahassee”: Pretty frickin’ awesome as a nickname but not sure formally.
“Syracuse”: I syr-acuse that of sounding dumb.
But regardless, besides all the “Von” or “De” or whatever names I’m willing to bet that modified or old spelling last names based on places are totally a thing that we also just decided to stop doing.
Yeah, like the -berg names (e.g. Stoltenberg), it's likely the family farm if you go far enough back. My family has a name that's an island and the settlement on it. Taking a profile picture next to the town sign that's also our last name is pretty common (for a name of a few hundred people).
Terrible idea. People clearly already struggling at naming kids. Coming up with a family name will be endless letters making the wrong sound, random sections being 'silent', so many puns or references to things, corporate advertising "oh it's the X.com family!"... Terrible, just terrible.
Are you saying that the people who came up with the original surnames are more qualified than people today? At least with my idea when people come up with a new name they have to use it themselves, rather than their defenseless children.
My wife and I actually did this, sort of. Not a completely new name, but we took her grandmother's name, rather than either of ours. Or, her great grandfather's name, I suppose.
The only reason I wouldn't want to take my partner's name, or have the partner take mine, is the same reason I wouldn't want to blend. It's just a headache to make sure everything is changed. It's why you see a lot of people who published research before their marriage continue to publish under the same name even if they changed their name. It's a major hassle.
That's great we're in agreement. Your comment said "... a lot of people who published research before their marriage continue to publish under the same name even if they changed their name."
So I didn't read your comment as saying woman shouldn't change their name, because you're describing women changing their name, and then not using the new name in a specific context.
My wife was made fun of for her last name until she was like 25 (her social group sucked), so she was delighted to changed her name when I asked her if we were going to use mine or hers. I still don't entirely mind changing mine or keeping it: I'd gotten a few public works built around town and one of them was named after me, and if I took her name the chances of getting them to change the name of that shelter were fuck all. You can only be the center of the universe for so long. So it just kind of worked out for both of us.
In Germany the current government had the idea (but never follow through on it) to allow a married couple to form a new last name based on their last names. Funnily enough the article mentions that this meshing of names is already possible and getting more popular in the USA and Great Britain.
Yeah, you can legally change your first and your last name to pretty much whatever you want as long as it isn't deemed too offensive in both the U.S. and the UK.
It is a pain in the ass, a burden that is put on the woman. Men don't even have to consider changing their last name if they don't want to, (straight, married) women have to consider if they will betray expectations by not taking her husband's last name.