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If a couple got married without changing their last names then the kids would either have the father's last name or the mother's last name instead of having one last name for everyone. (Unless you choose to split the naming scheme with the girl children having the mom's last name and the boy children having the dad's last name.)

My question is... would having different last names in a family be alright for the children? They would probably be smart enough to understand why the names are different, but would it have some sort of emotional toll?

I'm considering the name-changing options for after marriage. I see 4 possibilities:

1. the woman takes the man's last name (obviously the traditional route)

2. both last names are hyphenated together

3. the man takes the woman's last name

4. make up a new last name (most likely by combining both last names somehow).

What I would like to know is: would anyone consider the 4th option? Do you know anyone who actually did created a new last name? And if so, what were the reasons behind it? I'd especially like to hear from the guys on this one-- if you chose to create a new last name with your wife.

Hi, I have a life-changing dilemma/decision in regards to getting married and having kids and I'm sick of mulling it over in my head by myself so I decided to ask the internet.

So I've been in this relationship with my boyfriend for about 6 years now. Summary: we finished out college together, he's the best friend I could every ask for and I love him very much.

Now for the problem.... he want's kids and I don't. I told him when we first started dating that I didn't want kids and back then when we were still in school it wasn't a realistic issue anyway. Now I am 24 (him as well). He is starting his own "life" with a new and stable job and wants to start thinking about a five-year-plan: get married and having kids in five years.

I know he was hoping to turn me on to the idea of having kids all along and I was waiting for that "ah-ha!" moment when I realized I wanted it too but it never came to me. I still feel the same way I did 6 years ago…. I just don't like kids or the idea of having to basically give up my life as it is for something like that.

I really love him and there's no doubt in my mind that he would make me happy for the rest of my life. …and I desperately want to be with him and do the same. But I can't get used to the idea of this huge commitment. I can't make a guarantee that in five or even ten years time I will have changed my mind about having kids.

I've talked to him about this a lot but it seems there's really nothing else to say. He is unwilling to compromise on the kids because he knows he absolutely wants them. He is willing to wait, but not so long that we are in our 40's and there is a high risk of pregnancy problems (which is completely understandable). Ideally he would like to work at his job for 3 years to save up money, and have the first by age 27 and the second by 30 or something along those lines.

I honestly don't want to give up on this relationship and even after all this time of being so sure I didn't want kids, i'm finding myself thinking about it as a realistic possibly for my future. I know I am starting to doubt my past resolve because of my boyfriend but it's only because he means so much to me.

Anyone have any suggestions or advice? Have you been or are you in this kind of situation? Is there someone out there who didn't want kids but had them anyway? Did you regret it or did it bring you and your spouse closer together?

I want to add a guestbook/comment section to my website but the html Mailto command ends up opening the default email client on the user's end. I would like to set it up so they can email me their comments directly from the website page instead of opening their personal email client. Is this possible? And if so, how can I do it? (I'm relatively novice when it comes to html- i've only had one intro class on the subject so if you can answer, can you dumb it down for me, thanks).