Over the next few weeks we will be sharing stories gathered from women and men who have all come to their new families’ last names from very different perspectives. As we share these stories with you, we welcome your comments, your voice in the debate, and your own stories. 

Ken and I talked about our names for a long time before we got married. He always said he wanted everyone in our new family to have the same last name—particularly when we had kids. And I would say, "Okay, you are always welcome to be a Garcia." I said that as a joke, but I really meant it. 

I've worked long and hard to create Mimi Garcia. I often joke, "It's a good brand and I've worked hard to make it. I don't want to change it." 

My family is so cohesive that I had a hard time seeing myself as anything other than a Garcia. I just can’t see myself as a Cameron. If my daughter was only Cameron, and I was only Cameron, I felt like we would loose that cultural heritage. 

When I was pregnant with Kathryn, we knew we'd have to name her something. We decided that all of us would become Garcia-Cameron. Kathryn was made a Garcia-Cameron at birth (it's easier to name her right off the bat). Ken was tasked with figuring out how we change our names and tracking down all the paperwork. I told him I was happy to do the change; however because it wasn't important to me that we all have the same name and it was important to him, he needed to do the research to make it happen. We last discussed this about 7 months ago. So far, Kathryn remains the only Garcia-Cameron among us.