Since I am married I am going to begin with an explanation about my maiden name, Lanese Elizabeth Witt-Schulte. As much as I loved the hyphenated name it also drove me nuts! I always had to spell it for people and then there were even times when certain documents would not include the hyphen or let me use the hyphen and that just made me frustrated. For me, the hyphen was the most important part of my last name, to take it away meant taking away the unity of my parent's marriage. My mom chose to keep her maiden name, Witt, because it is a very prominent family name (especially in the PC area). People used to ask me if I was married because my name was hyphenated and then I would always go into the same response, "No, my mom kept her maiden name, Witt, and my dad's last name, Schulte, so my brothers and I go by Witt-Schulte." Long explanation but necessary because I was definitely not married! When it came time to get married and change my name I chose to drop the hyphenated name and take Kyle's last name, Slagle. I think that if I thought my brothers would never have kids I may have kept the last name and added Slagle but I also realize it is very important for me to keep the Slagle family name going because Kyle is the last male "Slagle" for his dad's family and I just hope I have boys that can carry on the name as well. I think it is important to carry on the family name and to have kids who will do the same. I think that is why my mom may have kept "Witt," at the time her brothers were small and she was not really sure if they would grow up to have families and children of their own. So it was her way of keeping the family name going. My dad is also the only Schulte left so by combining both names they kept things going for both families.
Now, my first and middle name both have a story behind them and I think the connection they give me to my family makes them very meaningful. The name "Lanese" is not very common and my grandma came up with the name in remembrance of her 2nd daughter, Denise, who passed away a few days after birth. When she had her 3rd daughter, Mendi, she used "Lanese" as Mendi's middle name and that is where the family history begins. My Aunt was so happy when my mom named me Lanese and really, even today, we are inseparable, she is my best friend and even stood next to me at my wedding as my Matron of Honor. Mendi kept the name going as well by using it as Emily's middle name, Emily Lanese Drollinger. It is fun to be named after someone and then to have another younger relative named after me! My middle name was taken from my Great Grandmother, Clara Elizabeth. When I was younger I never realized I was named after her but as I grew up I realized how important it was to carry on her legacy, especially after she passed away my junior year of high school. I would never think of changing my first and middle name because of the family history behind them and I cannot wait to have children and continue carrying on family names.
In conclusion, I love living with my name even if the pronunciation gets completely slaughtered by people all the time (Slagle isn't much better at the whole pronunciation thing). I have learned to correct people when they mispronounce it because by correcting them I am ensuring that they remember me the next time or when they hear the name again they think of me. I think having such a unique name also has advantages because people really do remember me and it makes a great first impression when they ask where my name comes from or state how unique it is.
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