My Name

My name is Moira. O'Leary served as my last name for 27 years and I liked it. When I do something really stupid like pour orange juice on my cereal or wear two different shoes to work I still refer to myself as "O'Leary" in my little chats to myself. "O'Leary what the f**k!"

Now I am legally Moira Duncan. Duncan being my husband's last name. I like the Duncan but 12 years later I still wear it like a borrowed hat. This whole changing last name thing gets some people in an uproar. Why should the woman have to change her name? I hear you on that argument but just can't get all that passionate in the fight. Change it. Don't change it. Whatever works for you. I found the whole process quite liberating. During my engagement I was weirded out by the idea of having a "new" name but thought I wanted to have the same last name as my future children and husband so we'd be the "so and so family". Hence the Moira Duncan moniker. Twelve years later I can easily say it worked well for me but I could have kept O'Leary and been just as happy. What the heck it is just a name not an identity. So right now my name is Moira Aine Duncan but that is not who I am.