This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Almack, K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

What’s in a Name? The Significance of the Choice of Surnames Given to Children Born within Lesbian-parent Families

University of Nottingham, UK, k.almack{at}nottingham.ac.uk

This article draws upon data from research with 20 families in the UK, where lesbian couples have planned and had their first child together. I focus on the ‘family practice’ (Morgan, 1996) of choosing surnames for children as one example of decisions that are negotiated in the relative absence of any established norms to follow. I examine some of the dominant themes that underpin the ways in which respondents account for these choices, placed within the context of the wider theoretical debates about contemporary transformations of intimacy. I argue that a closer examination of family practices can reveal some of the tensions between respondents’ stories of new ways of doing motherhood and family and provide new insights into some of the wider issues facing families who are reinventing family boundaries and the nature of the changes taking place.

Key Words: children’s needs • family practices • lesbian parents • motherhood • surnames

Sexualities, Vol. 8, No. 2, 239-254 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1363460705050857


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Finch Naming Names: Kinship, Individuality and Personal Names Sociology, August 1, 2008; 42(4): 709 - 725. [Abstract] [PDF]

				L. Short Lesbian Mothers Living Well in the Context of Heterosexism and Discrimination: Resources, Strategies and Legislative Change Feminism Psychology, February 1, 2007; 17(1): 57 - 74. [Abstract] [PDF]