As I'm reading the renaming scene, William didn't append Murra to her current one but replaced her first name wholesale, correct? This feels high-handed enough in all the wrong ways that it grates on me. I'm rather disconcerted that my first thought on reading it was "How gracious that he let her keep her family name while he overwrites or erased her previous identity." That said, I do have to disclaim that I may have a hair trigger on the subject as I spent years thinking about it before changing my own name, but a name is a very personal thing and seeing someone get just publicly renamed with little to no input on the decision may just hit too many buttons at once. Especially for a man to be renaming a woman and claiming her for the tribe gets a bit squidgy around the edges for me. [I'm sure there's a marriage joke lurking somewhere around here. :) ]
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As I'm reading the renaming scene, William didn't append Murra to her current one but replaced her first name wholesale, correct? This feels high-handed enough in all the wrong ways that it grates on me. I'm rather disconcerted that my first thought on reading it was "How gracious that he let her keep her family name while he overwrites or erased her previous identity." That said, I do have to disclaim that I may have a hair trigger on the subject as I spent years thinking about it before changing my own name, but a name is a very personal thing and seeing someone get just publicly renamed with little to no input on the decision may just hit too many buttons at once. Especially for a man to be renaming a woman and claiming her for the tribe gets a bit squidgy around the edges for me. [I'm sure there's a marriage joke lurking somewhere around here. :) ]