Female Supremacy Articles - Page 20

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So when Joe called Shannon's father to ask if he could marry her, he also asked if he could take their last name. Joe, 29, who says he never had a close relationship with his father or grandfather, thought of the switch as a way to harmonize the new family and wipe the slate clean with the old.

The Rancho Santa Margarita couple didn't tell anyone before the wedding. But unlike at the La Grua wedding, no one thought the priest had made a mistake.

"Because I tend to have a strong personality, everyone's initial thought was that it was my idea," says Shannon. "No one actually said anything to us at the wedding. My best friend said, 'I think people are talking about it.' "

Joe's grandmother tried to talk him out of it. His father, who wasn't invited to the wedding, is still angry about the name change.

Joe has no regrets. But it did take some getting used to. Throughout high school, people always called Joe by his last name. So when he ran into an old buddy at a wedding recently, he had to correct his friend.

"He said, 'Hey, Cothman.' And I said, 'Actually, it's Hickman now.' "He was like, 'Shut up.' "

Like Joe Hickman, Kelly Williams, 35, wants everyone in her family to have the same name.

Only problem is, she promised her father before he died that she'd keep her name. And her husband, Groove Rothenburger, whom she married four years ago, isn't sold on the idea.