My mom really wanted to call me Katie, but the only name my parents could eventually agree on was Danielle. I'm glad they went with that, I have known a few others throughout my life but the number of Kate/Katie/Cats I've known has been far, far, far more.

Having gone to a Northeast predominantly Irish Catholic high school that had 28 versions of Katie or K/Catherine/yn in a class of 300 or so students - I'd say that ethnicity might be Irish.

I would say, yes, probably because it's a nickname for many longer names. Especially since you consider that many of those longer names have variant spellings. So they'd have to count Catherine, spelled only like that, which doesn't account for the Katherines, Katharine, Kathryns, etc. Same thing with…

What's so interesting about that is the insistence on uniqueness that seems somewhat recent. My mom's name is Mary and I knew tons of Jessicas and Jennifers and their mothers probably never tried to tirelessly defend that they were ahead of the trend and were just naming it after some very specific person.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, Katie can be short for Katherine, Kathryn, Catherine, etc. I don't think it's usually given as a name on its own. I'm with you though, I know sooo many Katies!

I don't disagree, but consider this:
They are all nice, pretty and non-embarrassing names. They are not stripper names. They are names that will not get in the way of a professional career.

Well, a couple things. First, saying that "men = stronger = should gather resources" is much more of an extrapolation than saying "women = bear children = have more health risks associated with having kids."

Yeah. you're as female as Rush Limbaugh.

“Women are the ones who carry a child to term and give birth to it” is a biological fact.

Saying that women carry and bear children and that this leads to serious health risks and costs is an observable, testable (i.e. falsifiable, which is how science works), and therefore verified biological fact. Saying that men are "naturally more competitive and assertive" is evopsych-ish speculation that doesn't…

Probably because the latter is sexist.

For what it's worth, I don't think you're a sexist jerk. I do think, though, that the reason many of us said "but what about your wife's opinion?" is that the way you framed your initial comment didn't seem to leave much latitude; you said you don't like hyphenation, and that other alternatives seemed "dumb." Also,…

Again, I ask you, if he states he wants the child to have his name, and won't accept a hyphenated surname, what "open discussion" can take place?

What say could she possibly have? He's already stressed that he definitely wants the kids to have his name and he doesn't want to compromise. Saying that his wife "would have a say" in that scenario is a sham. The only possible thing is wife could say that would appease him in this scenario is "ok". Which is bullshit.

Yea, but the problem is that he is openly admitting "I buy into this who sexist male tradition, and I can't explain it, but goddamnit, I demand the rights inherent in my Y chromosome". Women get this A L O T. Having the ability to vaguely acknowledge that the feeling is stupid, doesn't make his point of view any…

Children have SYSTEMATICALLY been taking the father's name for centuries.

It's an idiotic argument. "Your dad is just a man, after all. I bet you never thought of that!" And we're the ones who are accused of demeaning fatherhood. My dad's not just a sperm donor, he's my dad.

I don't think you're a sexist pig (hey, you're not even the most sexist person in this thread!), but I do think you need to think about how gender plays into this instead of insisting that gender has nothing to do with it. As you point out, there's not a lot of room for compromise. I've BTDT. Where the male…

Oomph. Wow. Thanks for displaying the fact that you blatantly view your own identity as more solid and important than your future mate's, gentlemen.

I'm assuming Lindy means that they would have to both agree on the name change. It would be an asshole move (and bizarre) if you aggressively took someone's name when they had strong feelings (as she notes that her current boyfriend does) against the whole practice.