farmdoc's blog post number 676

In my life (so far) of over 62½ years, I’ve witnessed many unforeseeable changes. Today’s post’s about one of them. Last Monday I wrote of our Canadian friends Mark and Maya who recently visited us along with their (pictured) children Marina (aka my sous-chef) and Mateus (aka Pug, and The Boy Wonder). I’ve known for some time that the children’s surname is their mother’s maiden name. I’d never come across this before. When they were here in Mole Creek, I forgot to ask Mark and Maya why they’d done this. Two days ago I discussed it with Sweetheart Vivienne. Then, lo and behold, in yesterday’s Age Catherine Deveny wrote this article about precisely this topic. Talk about synchronicity. When I was a lad, all children were assigned their father’s surname. Routinely. No ifs or buts. I assume this ritual continued until recently. For example my granddaughters, born between 2000 and 2007, all have their father’s surname (albeit their mother’s maiden name as their middle name). I just don’t know how I’d feel if any of my daughters’ children had their mothers’ maiden name (i.e. my surname) as theirs. In one way it’d be nice because as the father of daughters my surname wouldn’t otherwise make it to the next generation. But a child’s surname being its mother’s maiden name’s still strange to me – even though Ms Deveny’s article helped explain the rationale. Again I feel like a sheep man in cattle country. Ho hum.