Name Spell
I wasn’t trying to make a statement by keeping my maiden surname, Redman, when I got married; I just felt it was my name, and I didn’t think I should have to change it. “How do you do that, keep your maiden name?” people would ask me. “You don’t do anything,” I told them. “It’s when you change your name that you have to do something, but since I’ve never done it, I don’t know what that is.”
Years later, after receiving a post card from a woman friend that was addressed to “Colleen Red One,” as opposed to “Colleen Redman,” I was prompted to think about how patriarchal our naming traditions are. Not only do we carry our father’s name, but many of those names end in “man” or “son.” After getting that postcard, the fun began…
For 20 years I’ve been co-editing and contributing to “A Museletter,” a monthly Floyd community publication. It was there that I began to play with my name, changing it to reflect the subject I was writing about. Over the years Museletter readers have witnessed an endless supply of my last names. Below is just a brief sampling of my chameleon-like aliases.
Name Spell
When it’s spring my name is Colleen Redrobin
In the fall it’s Redelicious
On the road it’s Redroof Inn
On a vacation island it’s Redpassionflowerwoman
When I’m in love I’m Redmana
When I meditate I’m Redmantra
When I haven’t written in a long time I’m Redmanymoons
When it’s Christmas I’m Rednosereindeer
When I’m feeling prosperous I’m Redmany or Redcarpet treatment
When I’m healing I’m Redmend
When I’m mad I’m C. Red
When I’m bleeding I’m SacRed
And sometimes just for fun I’m Redmandala
Redmania, Redmama or Redmoon
My mailmana is very confused
Signed Redmanymorewherethatcamefrom ‘95
June 6th, 2005 11:06 am
Love the post!
Having been married three times, DMV sees me coming and they just whip out the name change forms.
Now looking at marriage in the near future, I’m undecided if I want to bother with that whole process again. Fortunately my fiance is completely understanding ~ but in a sense this doesn’t help me make up my mind.
I also found out something very interesting. Even if you change your name upon marriage, did you know that you could legally continue to use your maiden name anyway? It’s the name on your birth record and nothing changes that.
June 6th, 2005 2:41 pm
Colleen,
You are RED-hot. Another goodie.
Kathy
June 6th, 2005 3:59 pm
All very good names, Colleen, and I like the last one best!
June 6th, 2005 7:47 pm
I loved this post! I made the opposite choice when I got married and took my husband’s name. There was no pressure from him to do it, I just wanted to. I held on to my maiden name by making it my middle name, so it still puts in plenty of appearances and is still very much a part of who I am. The most freeing part is knowing that my husband doesn’t care what my name is… I think he would still love me even if, like Phoebe on “Friends,” I were to change my name to “Princess Consuela Bananahammock.”
June 6th, 2005 8:19 pm
It sounds like you’ve had your share of Redletterdays.
June 6th, 2005 8:24 pm
I LOVE THAT!!!! How cool and genius is that? Hmmmm, now what can one do with a wierd polish name????
June 6th, 2005 8:26 pm
What no Redneck? I don’t see you as that anyway..even living way out here in the boonies ;0) I tried to keep my last name..just made it my middle name but signing checks was a challenge… 14 letters long. My kids are Millers and I wanted us to be of like name. No pressure from the hubs..just a decision on my part. Was a hassle though..changing it all over. Another good one.
June 6th, 2005 10:14 pm
Hello, Michelle sent me! You have a fun name to play with. It didn’t even occur to me to keep my maiden name. And I like having the same last name as my kids. I guess if my maiden name was short I could hyphenate it.
June 6th, 2005 11:09 pm
I took my husbands last name without any reservations. I guess I am a traditionalist. Never regretted it. Good post.
June 6th, 2005 11:55 pm
I don’t know why people don’t just change their to something completely different. Two people in love should choose a new name. Like Stilskie or Peretti. Wait, that’s the Christian novelist. Fuck.
June 7th, 2005 9:24 am
When you flip out, is it redrum?
June 7th, 2005 11:07 am
Clever!
I’m still torn on the name change thing. I’ve been married two and a half years and still haven’t changed it. It’s not that I’ve decieded not to change it, it’s just that I haven’t decieded to change it. It’s my name and my husband doesn’t care.
June 8th, 2005 11:58 am
i wish i had kept my maiden surname…
this was a great post…i especially like C.Red!
September 16th, 2006 2:25 am
I would like to know if anyone has married, taken the name of their husband and formed the unlikely characteristics that my name has. That being that an A now appears in Barbara in exactly the same places as an O appears in Mondolo? I think it has to be pretty unusual
August 25th, 2007 11:49 pm
Colleen, I love your many made-up names! Back around 1979 or 1980 I read a book called Mrs. Man about women using the husband’s name after marriage. Strange as it may sound, after having been Jacobs since marrying in 1959, I would keep the name Jacobs (my first husband’s name) if I married again. If “he” doesn’t get it, then we wouldn’t get married. I don’t want to get lost again in a name change.
I love this post of yours! Do you wonder how I found it? I was doing a meme about googling your own name, and it took me to one of your old posts I had commented on, and I clicked on some of the links in your post(s) and found myself here! I’ll post my meme tonight, so you may want to read it tomorrow and maybe do it yourself! How’s THAT for round-about?