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| The only mention of the name "Höllenbräu" anywhere in the world comes from a little Italian brewery named after it. But as a last name, no one else has it. So it belongs exclusively to us, our future family... and some place in Northern Italy. But that's it. |
Next step was to choose the name. And when you're picking an enetirely new last name, the options are endless. You could basically put together a random mashing a 7 or 8 letters and have a new last name. So needless to say, this task was a tad daunting at first. So we narrowed the field down to either a German or a Swedish last name. Mike's family is German and Swedish mostly and mine is mostly German. So we wanted to stick to our roots.
Here are some names we pooled together to choose from:
Whitby
Hadler
Hannafin
Hanzlik
Harbeck
Harian
Hasley
Haxby
Baisley
Zinsli
Hadachek
Havlick
Hadler
Hannafin
Hanzlik
Harbeck
Harian
Hasley
Haxby
Baisley
Zinsli
Hadachek
Havlick
Thorbjorn
Halestrom
After not loving any of these last name suggestions, we found one that we did like, but didn't want to use the exact name because it's a famous brand of beer in Germany called, "Hofbräu." As much as I wanted the German word for "beer" in my last name, I wasn't about to share it with a popular beverage company. It would be like naming myself "Britt Budweiser." SO, since we still loved the word "bräu," and we had been gravitating toward a last name starting with "H," we started to look up German words that would sound good with "bräu" tacked on the end of it. And that is when I discovered the word, "höllen," which basically means "hellish" or "devilish," or pertaining to hell, you get it. I sent an email to Mike right away with the subject "Our new last name" and showed it to him all spelled out nice-like: "Höllenbräu. It means hellish brew." He wrote me back saying, "That's it. Done."
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| via Nicole Polk Photography |
Any couples out there have a similar last name change story?
I looove this.
ReplyDeleteClose friends of my each added the others last name to their own, no hyphen. In short: they said it was hell trying to get it changed. Especially for the guy. People are just more used to women changing their names. Both of their last names were long to begin with and now it's hella long.
ReplyDeleteThe upside: once you've gone through all the hell of changing it, you never have to do it again! Love your new name!
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ReplyDeleteVeyr awesome. A couple of my friends did it a couple years ago. They were announced as Mr. and Mrs. Phoenix at the end of the ceremony.
ReplyDeleteMy last name change story isn't nearly as interesting as this one, but here ya go:
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I had been planning on her taking my name, but neither of us were excited about it. Her name being Athena and my original last name being Grande, Athena Grande just didn't sound right or fit her. We got married, we submitted our marriage paperwork, and we went on with our lives. For some reason she never got around to changing her name.
After some time one of us (I think me) suggested that instead of just her changing her name, why don't we both change our names? While I was once close to my family last name, over the years I realized I was closer to my mothers side than my fathers side, and was ok starting anew with my new wife. Plus, around this time we had decided to move from my home state of California across the country to Vermont. This made it the opportune time to start fresh with a new name and a new state.
So we started talking about what said name would be. My wife did lots of research into names that would work with our interests and we went for a lot of wine related names: Zinfandel, Noir, Pinot, Vineyard, Vino, etc. We liked and almost went for Noir, but since it's a French word and neither of us have ANY French in our blood, we sadly dismissed it. It would have worked well though due to the fact that it's wine related (Pinto Noir) and film related (Film Noir) and we liked both a whole lot. (Come to think of it Michael Noir would be a pretty badass name.)
Ultimately though, we decided that having a name that was meaningful to not just our interests, but our heritage was important. (Much like your decision to go with a German in origins name.)
We went down the list of names, still not quite coming up with anything until one day it dawned on me "why not my mothers maiden name?" I was very close to my Grandfather before he passed, he only had daughters so none passed on his name, I don't know any of his brothers or sisters kids or grandkids, and as far as my world matters the last members of the family with his last name were my mother and her sisters. I figured taking on his last name would befit honoring him, bring me back (name wise) to the family that raised me (parents divorced when I was 3), and give my wife and I a new starting point. We decided on Rork.
But what version? This was a brand new and mind racking question for us. The version that my Grandfather was named, Rork? Or the original version before it got mutilated over the years, Rourke? Or do we go back even further to the original Irish name, O'Rourke?
My wife loved O'Rourke and strongly encouraged me to pick that name... but I had a hard time with breaking from my Grandfathers roots so far, even though it was a name he descended from. My wife would have also been happy with Rourke. It's only 7 generations back that the name was there, even though it wasn't my Grandpas.
Ultimately though, what it came down to was: how many Rork's are there in the world that AREN'T related to me, and honoring my family. My mother, my aunt, and my Grandma would all love it if my new name was Rork, and not Rourke. So that's what it became.
Side note, the morning we went to change our names I got the great idea of changing my middle name as well, and went back to the original Zinfandel idea, so now my full new name is: Michael Zinfandel Rork. Later I ended up naming my photography business Zinfandel Photography... ya know, based on my name, not just because I thought it sounded cool. ;-)
love it. i wondered what the tat was resembling when i first saw that pic. you guys are awesome :)
ReplyDeleteI added my hubby's last name to my already hyphenated last name. I love how redonkulous it is.. having three last names. We unofficially go by a combination of our three names: BryHoSeler, and were announced as that after we wed. Alas, we aren't as cool as the Familia Höllenbräu!
ReplyDeleteLove the tats!!!
I seriously love this story and Michael's as well. So interesting and unique :)
ReplyDeleteI think that's awesome, especially since so many men are unwilling to give up their last names. Just out of curiosity, how did your parent's react to this? Especially his? I think my in-laws would not have been happy if we had gone this route.
ReplyDeleteI find it ironic that the location of your tattoos is very similar to the ones on people placed in the camps. I'm so hoping your choice of placement was intentional. Are you guys "German" or "German-American"? Lastly, do you two have to get new social security numbers/cards or no?
ReplyDeleteI got the impression from the marriage license process in California that you could only change your name to one of the previous names, or to a combination of the two (i.e., hyphenated). Will you guys have to go to court to change it then?
ReplyDeleteMy husband would have been happy to change his name, but I wanted to take his, partly because I think it's kind of anti to be so traditional, and partly because due to his broken broken family, he has practically no contact with anyone else with his last name, so it's kind of like we have our own private name.
@katie
ReplyDeleteyes, we will have to go to the courts to get it changed legally. We couldn't do it while getting the marriage certificate.
@Chickachick
We are German-American, and no, there really isn't any meaning behind *where* the tattoo is placed on our forearms other than the fact that we wear our wedding rings on our left hand, and wanted our last name tats to be on the same arm. And yes, I believe we will have to get all new ss cards and all that.
what a cool idea. you two are too rad!
ReplyDeleteYou rock Ms. Hellish sorta beer. You also laid the groundwork well for your own brewery name some day.
ReplyDeleteSo fricken rad. I love the idea of choosing a new last name together, and your process is totally you guys.
ReplyDeleteFreaking brilliant. And from what we know of you guys, it sounds gloriously 'you'.
ReplyDeleteSeriously love this idea.
ReplyDeleteLOVE. THIS. STORY.
ReplyDeleteI love it. The name sounds great. I love the idea of starting something new together. I wanted to know if you felt any sadness having to give up your names that you've known all your life and how your families reacted.
ReplyDeleteI have some friends who changed their last name to Zzyzyx. Totally crazy but suits them perfectly.
I didn't know you could do this! Awesome story! I'm curious: do you have to justify your change of name in front of the court? We couldn't do this in France, you need a "real" reason to change your name (for example, if you have a silly name)!
ReplyDeleteJust watching the most recent episode of Psych on Hulu. Tres cool how you slipped your new last name in there! And for one of the bad guys... Well done!
ReplyDelete