My middle name was my mother's maiden name - a fact of which I have always been proud. After she died, I tried to get folks to call me by it - never worked. I should have used it as my username - too late now, I hated being strange.

I also know of a man who worked in our ED who was an orphen - married an only-child woman. He decided to take her surname rather than the reverse (our standard) - something we all though terribly romantic. Unfortunately the marriage lasted barely a year. He still, to the best of my knowledge, carries her name!

Why not?