DEAR PRUDENCE
Dear Prudence: I married my partner in a quiet online ceremony due to COVID. I’m a man, she’s a woman, and we had decided beforehand that I would take her last name. We had a few reasons for this decision, one of them being that her name would sound like a famous comic book character (think “Lois Lane”) if she had taken mine. We didn’t mention this except to a few friends, since it didn’t seem like big news. My family never asked, and I never thought to mention it, so they heard about it for the first time on our wedding day when the officiant announced our names. They seemed shocked but were quiet at the time.
Since then, they have raised the subject well over a hundred times. My mom actually phoned me in tears asking why I had “rejected our family name,” while my dad constantly implies that my lovely wife (whom he previously really liked) is a monstrous control freak. My mom and brother are both horrified that I didn’t “insist” our future children “carry on my name,” and when I’ve tried to remind them that we are not actually a monarchical dynasty, they switch tactics and claim that we must simply prefer my wife’s family to mine. Honestly, right now, that’s true, because her family have responded perfectly reasonably, while mine are behaving like this. I’ve taken to ending conversations with my parents and brother when they raise the issue, which has been every single conversation. My wife was very upset the last time we spoke because they shouted at her for “emasculating” me. I’m anxious that they not get a chance to yell at her again. Can you advise me on a way to firmly shut down this topic once and for all? It’s been six months now. I feel like I’ve told them repeatedly, “We’re not discussing this,” in every call, and I’m at my wits’ end. We were close before, but they seem willing to die on this hill and are actually begging me to change my name back if I won’t “reason” with my wife.
— Ivanhoe the Disinherited
I don’t mean to make light of your situation, because it sounds absolutely demoralizing, but there’s something a little funny about the image of three adults throwing a six-months-long temper tantrum about emasculation and the innate wickedness of women. Protect your wife from continued harassment, and safeguard your own peace of mind by not answering their calls. If at some point they’re able to say, “We’re very sorry for how we’ve behaved. We won’t ever bring your name change up again, and we’d like to try to reestablish a relationship with you, if you’re open to it,” you can revisit the possibility of a conversation. But don’t settle for less.
Send questions to Dear Prudence, aka Slate’s Daniel Mallory Ortberg, at prudence@slate.com.