The Dilemma
We’ve much pondered what to do with our last names when we get married.
Our priorities are many. We want to have the same last name. We want to honor family history. We want to perpetuate a tradition that is both sustainable across generations and mindful of gender equality.
We decided to both adopt a completely new last name—a name not previously in our family tree, but created in reference to family tradition. While somewhat unconventional, this was the approach we thought best balanced our many priorities.
The Decision
As of July 9th, 2016, we will be Hannah and Lars Esdal.
The name “Esdal” is a combination of each of our middle names—Hannah Esther and Lars Dale. Esther was the name of Hannah’s great grandmother on her mother’s side, and Dale was the name used by Lars’ grandfather on his father’s side. The name Esdal thus weaves together roots from the maternal branch of Hannah’s family tree and the paternal branch of Lars’.
The new name is respectful of our family history, is mindfulof gender equality, advances a tradition compatible with the future, and has an etymology consistent with our Scandinavian ancestry ("dal", meaning "valley", is a common surname suffix). And, we like how it sounds.
As an added bonus, being far less common than Carlson and Johnson, our new name opens up many possibilities in terms of web domain names and Twitter handles! ;-)