Taking Your Bride's Surname

Now here’s a trivia for you. Do you know that a man could take his wife’s surname after marriage?

Many are unaware of this until the news of Mike Buday’s lawsuit against the California stage government made the headlines.

Buday is invoking the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. He argues that it is discriminatory to require men to go through lengthy procedures just to be able to change their last name to that of their wives’.

Although I’m frequently handling marriage records in the office, I haven’t noticed or been able to verify the claim that more and more men are dropping their surnames and adopting their wives’ instead.

I think the suit might be dismissed. It has been reported that a state legislator has already filed a bill which would allow men to indicate in their marriage license application if they would want to take the last name of their bride.