Cathy and Elizabeth Brownlee Taking a new name after marriage can present a challenge DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer taffet@dallasvoice.com When Cathy and Elizabeth got married in July, they decided to take the same last name.
Not a strange idea. Straight couples have been doing that for years. They both came from families where everyone had the same last name.
So which name should they use? Hyphenated names become cumbersome. They didn’t want to choose one name or the other. And they didn’t want to give in to the patriarchy that assumes the name passes down through male lineage only.
So they decided to come up with their own name. Cathy’s last name was Brown. Elizabeth’s mom’s name was Lee and they wanted to honor her.