Friday’s edition of the Super Morning Show, centered on whether it is right for men to insist on their wives taking on their surnames.

Ardent listeners who phoned in to the show expressed divergent views about the issue. However, the majority of them did not think it is a big deal.

It started with Yeboah who called from Lapaz and said no woman should be compelled to adopt the name of their husband after marriage since it is an imported culture.  

He noted, however, that the onus lies on the particular couple to decide what to do.

“When it comes to the adoption of the man’s name by the wife, the question we need to ask is where is this culture coming from? Is it our culture? No! It is foreign. I’m not condemning the practice, but I’m only saying it is not something we find in our culture so it’s up to the couple to decide,” he maintained.

He mentioned that when it comes to naming a child, however, it’s always prudent for the child to adopt the name of the father.

“It’s the man that provides the seed and not the woman and you identify the fruits by their seeds.”

Agyemang Joseph who called from Community 9 shared a similar view. He believes it’s a big deal if a child doesn’t adopt the name of the father, but it isn’t in the case of a wife.

“I will give my name to my child for people to know he is coming from my family, but I think it’s not relevant for my wife to take my name.  If she wants it, it’s fine, but I don’t think it should be imposed on her,” he maintained.

Abu Mohammed from Juapong also noted that changing a woman’s name after marriage causes the person to lose their identity.

“I always disagree with the changing of names, especially when people [Christians] marry into Muslims and they convert their names and adopt an Arabic name.”

He argued that names are “a gateway to one’s identity, therefore, when a person changes their name and adopt another after marriage, they totally have changed their identity so everyone should maintain their identity.”   

Samuel from Adentan, on the other hand, disagreed with the above assertions.

He contended that if it is not mandatory for wives to take on the surnames of their husbands, marriage certificates should not have the title Mr. and Mrs. on them.

Charles also stated that it depends on the people involved.

“It depends on what the couple thinks would work for them but on the issue of the man naming the children, I think the kids should take the man’s name.

Citing the biblical analogy as seen in Genesis 2: 19 where God tasked Adam (the man) to name all that things, he concluded that naming the child is a special mandate God gave to the man.