The Name Game

It's that wonderful time of year again. You know the one, when your mailbox fills up with invitation after invitation to your friend's bridal showers, bachelorette parties, engagement announcements and receptions. Yep, it's wedding season.

But something that caught my attention was the profile name change after marriage. Meera Nair Changed to Meera Ajeesh; Chitra to Chitra Ramesh and Fatima Nadia to Fatima Salam post marriage. 

It sounds foolish but my thoughts drifted to What if they get divorced? Will they change their surname back to what it was?I tried to Google what does the Law of the land say on the same ! Apparently divorced women cannot use their ex-husbands' name.

If there is no legal compulsion on a woman to change her name after marriage, why should there be any compulsion on her to change her name if her marriage ends? Why can't she have the freedom to choose? Why should there even be an option available only for a woman to change her last name post marriage is something that totally puzzles me. But then I'm reminded of being in a patriarchal society...blah blah and blah!

I asked my friend who happens to be a women entrepreneur about her take on the ruling and there she was with the William Shakespeare “What's in a name?” funda. I just moved on, by the way she is getting married and I am for sure she will be Catherine john soon and I am gonna miss my “Catherine Thottuvally” forever (or at least till the marriage lasts).