Yesterday my hometown paper, the Detroit Free Press, ran a profile on incoming GM CEO Dan Akerson. As a former daily newspaper reporter I’ve probably got more of an eye for this than most people, but this sentence, the second one in the piece made me sit up and cheer:

“In Washington, a powerful group gathered for a send-off dinner for Akerson and his wife, Karin Akerson.”

Anybody else pick up what I see? Instead of putting the period after “Karin,” the reference to Akerson’s wife includes both her first and last names. While she does happen to share his  last name, as a matter of newspaper style, implicit in the usage is a recognition that not all husbands and wives do.

Even with today’s fragmented newspaper readership, style ain’t nothing. Styles become rules. Rules affect behavior. And it is way past time for behavior to change on the women’s last name front.

Good on ya, Freep.

There’s a hot primary race for a local judgeship in my community right now.  Five lawyers are seeking a six-year term on the district court bench. The field will be winnowed to two in the August 3 primary. Yard signs for all of them are sprouting around town faster than the sweet corn outside it, and I’m relishing the signs for one in particular: Jennifer Tang-Anderson. Why? Her hyphenated last name. I can’t recall ever seeing one on a campaign yard sign before, and I’ve lived her for 13 years.

This is not an endorsement. I don’t know this candidate (don’t know much about of them, in fact, one of the reasons I object to voting for judges.) The other is the absurdity, even in nonpartisan races, of trying to persuading people to vote you into a position where you’re then supposed to be impartial is. But I digress.

I love seeing the Tang-Anderson signs because they expose this conservative area to a hyphenated name and the notion that a married woman might not automatically take her husband’s name. When I got married here seven years ago and informed the priest I was keeping my name, I became a figurative Gloria Steinem. A hyphenated name ranks a few rungs down the liberal feminist ladder, but it’s still enough to raise eyebrows.

So, thanks for throwing your hat in the ring, Jennifer Tang-Anderson. If you don’t make it through the primary your signs will be short-lived. But even if you never get to lift that gavel next to your name, I think you’ve already made an impact.

PS - There’s a candidate’s forum at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, 7/15, at the Traverse Area District Library.

Last week I received the perfect gift for my seventh wedding anniversary — from a co-worker.

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At a meeting I happened to mention this blog. She checked it out and then sent me a message: “I’m reading your blog and now I’m all confused about what I want to do re: changing my name. Hmm…”

To me, confusion is simply the predecessor to thinking, which, when considering a monumental decision like a name change, is imperative. (The sadness of post-name change regret, as I wrote in January, is magnified because it’s so easily avoided.)

I asked her what she and her significant other had been thinking of doing. “I was going to take his with mine as a middle name. Now maybe we’re both going to hyphenate,” she replied. Hooray! Not only identity preserved but equity!

Happily ever after is so much more likely when both spouses start with their identities intact. So congratulations, M. on thinking ahead, and thanks for the perfect gift.