to hyphenate or not to?

So the questions have been rather expected since our engagement announcement. When's the wedding? (no idea) Where's the wedding? (no idea). Am I invited? (ha ha) The one that troubles us the most is the last name question... should I take 'Martin' as my new last name, and drop 'Chan'. Should we combine the two last names and make one up? I'm a big fan of 'MAN' and 'Chartin'. 'MAN' unfortunately doesn't work so well with Justin's name. "Just in Man' just doesn't sound too good.. though you have to admit "MR. MAN" sounds as cool as the old BHS band teacher 'Dr. Love'.

Both last names are pretty common though Chan is probably more prevalent than Martin especially in certain regions of the world. While I didn't think that I was that attached to my last name, I actually am. Anyone who has seen my fancy pants signature knows that.... and I've been signing all my documents the same way since 4th grade - I'm just trained to attach Chan to Betina. Plus it rhymes with my middle name 'Jan'.

My mom moved her maiden name up to her middle name so it was no longer Linda Koo, but Linda Koo Chan. That way, the family had the same last name. Anyways the more I think about it the more I like hyphenating.. betina chan-martin. We'll see how things develop as we get closer and closer to the wedding date (which has not been set yet).

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