My Name
April 28th, 2008 1 commentMy name is Meg Canada. Margaret Elizabeth Gerritsen (M.E.G.) was my birth name until I was 24 years old. I married and divorced Mr. Canada. I changed my name to Margaret Gerritsen Canada almost eight years ago when I was married. My professional name has been Meg Canada and I use it everywhere online.
The name is vastly curious to many-
Is that you real name? Yes.
Is that just a name you use online? No.
Are you Canadian? No.
Do you love Canada? Sure, I guess.
How do you spell that? Just like the country.
More recently… Are you going to go back to Gerritsen? No, it will always be my middle name.
Are you changing your name to another country? Albania? Guatemala? Dominican Republic? No.
Don’t you feel like your ex has left a mark on you? No. (No more than the mark on my ring finger which still won’t disappear.)
Don’t you feel like it has bad associations? No, not really.
Will you take another name if you remarry? Maybe, if I like it better than Canada or for my someday, in the cosmos, children.
And thus ends the discussion. I have finally made up my mind. Thanks to all who participated in the debate. I love you all.
1 Comment
Julia on April 28, 2008
When I married I also inserted my maiden name into my middle name (thus I now have 2 “official” middle names), simply because I’d been stuck with it for 23 years and frankly had grown quite fond of it.
I sometimes regret taking my husband’s last name — not out of any principles of feminism or to disassociate myself from my husband in any way, but I have no brothers to carry on the family name.
I enjoyed your post; it caused me to reflect.
Julia Lea Van Zanten Sjöberg