Newlyweds in the US are "meshing" their names in an attempt to banish the sexism that comes when a woman takes her husband’s surname.
Much as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have been christened "Tomkat", couples are mixing elements of their names as a sign of togetherness.
Gary Ruderman, 43, a playwright and architect, married Jodi Wilgoren, a writer for The New York Times, last year. The couple now go by the name of Rudoren. Mr Ruderman’s wife-to-be had said she would love to share his name but on an egalitarian basis.
"I have a lot of respect for Jodi, so I considered it," he said. "Very few people I talked to said, ‘Oh, that’s stupid’. My mother has taken to introducing me as her son Gary Rudoren."
One name-meshing pioneer is Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who combined the name of Villar with his wife’s name of Raigosa in 1988.
His wife, Corina, recalled: "He said, ‘I’ve been thinking about it and why don’t we combine our names to make one name? If you are willing to take my name, I should be willing to take yours’."
