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Esperanto family names

de Frakseno, 2008-julio-17

Mesaĝoj: 45

Lingvo: English

Dreamlight (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-25 20:52:55

erinja:
Frakseno:Maria Estella Blondell-Saffron-Rosenberg-Watt-Bloom-Watson-Jones-Smith
As it happens, I am not a fan of hyphenating names.
Hyphenating names is well and good in my opinion if you don't get carried away as in this case.
In my opinion, the fairest thing is for daughters to get the mother's surname and sons to get the father's surname, and for everyone to keep their own names upon marriage. That is a fair way to run things, yet still avoids name pile-ups like what you describe.
This is where I agree. I have always held the same opinion.

RiotNrrd (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-26 01:44:39

Dreamlight:
In my opinion, the fairest thing is for daughters to get the mother's surname and sons to get the father's surname, and for everyone to keep their own names upon marriage. That is a fair way to run things, yet still avoids name pile-ups like what you describe.
Actually, I think a more interesting mix would be for daughters to take their fathers surname, and for sons to take their mothers. This could have interesting social consequences, while still remaining as fair as in your example.

For example, in more rural societies it is common for there to be a societal pressure to want sons more than daughters. This makes some sense from a "we need strong boys to help on the farm" point of view, whereas daughters in these sorts of societies are often considered "overhead" (which has, very sadly, been the cause of infanticide of female babies in places such as China).

And while the desire for producing boys for economic reasons wouldn't cease, this naming scheme could increase mens desires to also have daughters, since that's the only way their name would be passed down to the next generation. I think it could have a kind of gender-preference leveling effect.

Dreamlight (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-27 22:44:38

RiotNrrd:
Actually, I think a more interesting mix would be for daughters to take their fathers surname, and for sons to take their mothers. This could have interesting social consequences, while still remaining as fair as in your example.
This works too, and is just as fair.

nightshade (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-29 16:25:22

Dreamlight:
RiotNrrd:
Actually, I think a more interesting mix would be for daughters to take their fathers surname, and for sons to take their mothers. This could have interesting social consequences, while still remaining as fair as in your example.
This works too, and is just as fair.
Good idea - or we could do like the Spanish and have the mother's surname in with the father's - example would be Maria Cordoba Juarez, if the mother's name is Cordoba and the father's is Juarez.

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-29 16:37:26

nightshade:Good idea - or we could do like the Spanish and have the mother's surname in with the father's - example would be Maria Cordoba Juarez, if the mother's name is Cordoba and the father's is Juarez.
Doesn't this solution have the same problem as hyphenating? Maria Cordoba Juarez would probably pass on "Juarez" to her kids, so "Cordoba" would be lost. In that case, there's little point in giving her her mother's name anyway, if it's just lost after one generation.

Frakseno (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-29 19:09:43

No matter the solution, many people are concerned about their family name "dying." Since the trend in much of the western world today is to have only one child, that child will most often only be able to take one last name.
Whether the son or the daughter takes the mother's or the father's last name, if the couple only has one child, one of those names will not be passed on. And hyphenation will only delay the disappearance by one generation.
For example, if my daughter takes her husband's name, I am the last of the people of my family line with this last name. I'm not worried about it, but many have stronger connections to their last names than I do.

I mean, after all, my wife and I are considering taking an Esperanto last name. rideto.gif

mnlg (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-29 19:48:40

Frakseno:I am the last of the people of my family line with this last name. I'm not worried about it, but many have stronger connections to their last names than I do.
Exactly. I have no interest whatsoever in my name. I didn't choose it and it is just a way to refer to a part of my family. I can change it and there would still be enough people with my name, and enough documents to prove my connection with my family. Since I cannot explain some people's attachment to their name, I won't say anything about it (it's just one more thing that I do not understand). However I will restate that if the purpose of a family name is to identify a family, I believe that the fairest way is to agree on a new name when a new family is created.
I mean, after all, my wife and I are considering taking an Esperanto last name. rideto.gif
See? That's what I am talking about okulumo.gif

Frakseno (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-29 20:08:17

Maybe it would be fun to ask for ideas for Esperanto-derived family names. My own Eo vocabulary is so limited that I'm having a lot of trouble, but perhaps the large number of fluent folks here can help.

trojo (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-31 17:19:16

Delasteloj (or "de la Steloj" if you don't mind having spaces in your last name). Cool meaning and neat-sounding internal rhyme.

Frakseno (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-31 17:28:26

In order to avoid every single non-Eo speaker mispronouncing and misspelling the name, I guess I'd need to convert the Eo spelling to an equivalent English spelling?

Such as
Delasteloj = Delasteloi or Delasteloy,
Cxielo would become Chielo, etc.

This is getting complicated. rideto.gif

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