Mr. and Ms. Ford

Yes, we’ve chosen a name- it’s Ford. Scott and Janet… you called this one weeks ago, but we didn’t want to share the name until we had completely decided and were ready to commit.

You’re probably wondering why, especially if you weren’t around this past weekend to see us get married. While I’d rather be writing about our amazing weekend right now, this decision seems to require some explanation for people, so here we go.

Let’s recap how Chris and I went about deciding to choose our own last name:

1) I didn’t want to take Chris’s name and he wasn’t quite comfortable with the idea of there being two Mrs. Hodges (the first being his mother).

2) Chris didn’t want to take my name, which is fine, because Mr. Case is in fact, my father.

3) We didn’t want to hyphenate our names, thus creating a new disease, the Case (of the) Hodges.

4) We wanted to choose a name that would work for the whole family, which may or may not someday include children, dogs, and random goldfish.

When we first started talking about the idea of coming up with our own new name, we were sitting at a breakfast table in Charleston, South Carolina. The name “Ford” came up immediately, given that we were having such an amazing journey and we felt like the name encompassed our common experience. We quickly tossed the name aside as pandering and considered everything from Solstice to Equinox, Katmar (our moms’ first names combined) to Dwyer (Chris’s grandmother’s maiden name). We even established a few rules:

1) The name had to be American, because neither of us thought it was appropriate to take on an ethnic last name just because it “sounded cool.”

2) It couldn’t be the maiden name stolen from a good friend.

3) It couldn’t be a first name, last name. (ie: Chris Ryan, Jaime Bruce)

4) It couldn’t hurt anyone (ie: taking my stepdad’s last name would hurt my father)

5) It had to be easy to say and spell so that we don’t torture our future kids.

After two months of long conversations, intense fights, and hours of thinking, we both realized that the first name we came up with, Ford, was exactly the right choice. Here’s why:

1) The word “Ford”, as defined by dictionary.com, means “to cross a river.” It implies strength and determination, two qualities Chris and I hope to embody in our marriage.

2) President Gerald Ford, an adopted member of the Ford family, was from Grand Rapids, Chris’s hometown. Chris holds Gerald Ford in high regard, as does the rest of his family.

3) Betty Ford helped raise awareness for breast cancer and was considered a leader in  the Women’s Movement. She is also the founder of the world-famous Betty Ford Clinic, which helps treat substance abuse and addiction.

4) Ford is the only American car company that didn’t take bailout money.

5) Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company with the idea that the common man should and would be able to afford his own car. The Ford Motor Company still works to achieve this goal today.

6) Roxy has been like a family member to us, and since her last name is Ford, we’re happy to share it with her. Even though we’re going to have to say goodbye to her this week, she’ll always live very large in our memories.

7) Driving around the country seeing the Ford sign everywhere made Chris and I feel like a part of a larger family- we loved that.

8 ) Chris’s mother has an extensive history with Ford.

9) My father, who was the student body president of Fresno State, was given a Mustang fastback during his presidency.

10) My first truck was a Ford Ranger- a vehicle that is infamous to anyone who ever drove with me in high school. My brother, who was one of my best friends growing up, always had Mustangs.

11) My grandfather Bud loves driving around the entire country in his Ford Ranger.

It goes on and on. No matter what other names we came up with, Ford kept coming back.

Now that we’re married, we’ll begin the process of changing our name legally. We plan on keeping our maiden and bachelor names as our middle names, so that people will always know where we’ve come from.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.