Keely Less

Ever since I was a little girl, I always knew I would eventually drop my last name when I got married. In fact, I would often substitute a cute guy's last name after Keely just to see how it flowed. Clearly the guy is not going to be right for me if his last name doesn't sound like it's meant to follow the name Keely, right? It turns out many women keep their names even after getting married. This was such a foreign thought to me. I don't know a single woman that didn't adopt her husband's name after the wedding.

Watching an episode of Gilmore Girls with my mom, Loralei Gilmore, one of the main characters, was about to get married and said she was definitely going to keep her own last name. She said that if she wasn't Loralei Gilmore, she might as well be Loralei Gil-LESS! I giggled at the little pun, but I really started considering the idea of losing my last name. I love my last name, and I'm proud of it! When I was campaigning for school elections in the past, it always provided me with excellent slogans: "Me for Moore," "For S'Moore Leadership, Keely for President." I even use it in everyday jokes, as lame as that is. One day my manager at work continued to preach about how "less is more!" I finally said, "No Heath, Moore is more" :)

Even more than my last name, I love my middle name! It's Ranae. I love it because Ray is my dad's, brother's, and both of my nephews' middle name. It turns out when you get married your maiden name essentially replaces your middle name. For the first time, I'm really hesitant about the whole name change issue upon marriage. My husband is going to have to be pretty darn special for me to take his name because at this point in my life, it seems like no matter what, I'll be Keely Less.