Some women keep their maiden name when they marry. The reasons are varied, but deeply personal. Meanwhile, some hyphenate the combination of last names, which is another way to hang onto the maiden name.

Me, no. I hated my name because it identified me as a member of a dysfunctional family. A family in which I was ridiculed, harassed, tormented and belittled. As long as that name was mine, I couldn’t shed myself of that identity.

If I’d lived somewhere far away from my family, I might have felt differently, but when I returned home after college, everywhere I went someone knew my dad. And he was not a nice person.

My dad had a viscous temper and never forgot or forgave a perceived wrong. He’d been let go from a variety of jobs once typesetting jobs disappeared. He claimed each time that it wasn’t his fault, that so-and-so had done….something that he got blamed for.

You can believe it the first time, but not the second or third.

My family was big into bowling. We’d travel down the peninsula bowling in every alley, collecting Green Stamps, which was huge in the early 1970s.

If my dad’s score was high, he’d brag to everyone and anyone. When it was low, he’d complain loudly, blaming the slickness of the lanes, the “grease” that accumulated on his ball, the pin setting machine, anything but his own lack of skill that day.

In other words, my dad’s reputation got the entire family banned.

Being a Haack, carrying that easily remembered last name, caused me no amount of regret. Whenever I had to identify myself, I’d garner evil looks, threats to behave, or face an ouster from the facility.

Needless to say, I hated my name.

I was fairly naïve when still in my early twenties, so I knew nothing about the legal way to change names. I’d dreamt about it, but I didn’t know how to do it. I also feared my family’s wrath if I did so.

So when I fell in love, I knew that I’d take on my husband’s last name. Connelly is a million times better than Haack.

I wish I had also changed my first name.

Teresa was a dolt, a stupid kid who didn’t know anything when she started school. Teresa was a shy, easily humiliated kid who carried her family’s torments on her shoulders. Teresa was an unlikable, obese little girl who hid in her desk, even up to and throughout high school.

My friends called me Terry, but there were few of them. I wasn’t allowed to go to other kids’ houses and no one could come to mine. I never invited anyone over, and for good reason.

First, I knew my mother wouldn’t approve. Second, my family was an embarrassment. Temper explosions happened regularly, with no rhyme or reason. If I did have a friend over, there was an excellent possibility that she’d witness a scene that would soon be all over the school.

I discovered that I could be both Teresa and Terry. Teresa was my formal identity: used for signing checks and legal documents. It was how I was known at work, which, in my mind, gave me a sense of authority when I knocked on doors collecting delinquent federal taxes.

Terry was my real identity. Terry went backpacking. Terry went skiing, camping, on car rides with her one friend. Terry attended concerts and dressed in the casual clothes she loved.

Marriage gave me permission to carve out a new identity. I could be Terry Connelly, an interesting wife and mother, a person who returned to college to pursue her teaching credential, a dream she’d held for years.

Terry Connelly was the treasurer for the Parent’s Club at her kids’ school, a mistake as she hated finances, but she kept accurate books. She was an officer in the Womens’ Guild, eventually being elected President.

She was a preschool teacher, then taught elementary. She returned to college to get a degree in Physical Education, then switched to Special Education.

Teresa could never have done that. Once she was in a program, she stayed for fear of failure.

It’s amazing the difference a name makes.

Where one holds you down, the other can set you free.

Shedding a hated name was the most wonderful thing I’d ever done.