A woman taking her husband’s last name is no longer a given. Couples have been mixing things up for a while now, but one couple decided to turn old and new norms on their heads. Instead of the new husband and wife arguing over why one of them should relinquish their surname, they decided to let the “best family” win. Women have been expected to give up their family’s last name for their husband’s for hundreds of years. This goes back to when women were considered property transferred from a father to a husband. While the thought of women being considered property stopped with women’s rights movements, the tradition of adopting a husband’s surname persists today. Bride and groomPhoto Credit: Canva Why women changed surnames The practice originated in 14th-century England and was part of “coverture,” which transferred nearly all of a woman’s assets to her new husband, according to Cambridge University. Taking the husband’s last name wasn’t required, but it was widely practiced and spread to other Western countries. In recent years, women have been choosing to hyphenate or retain their birth surname. But one cheeky couple decided to throw all the norms out of the window in favor of a more inclusive process that involved everyone. Brett Borland and Gorgie Abela recently tied the knot in front of their loved ones. When the time came for reception activities, Borland got on the mic to announce that their families would be competing in a “Battle of the Surname.” Guests at an outside weddingPhoto Credit: Canva Battle of the Surname “What we’ve decided is that neither one of our names is going to disappear,” Borland says. “So what we’re going to do is that we’ve organized some games where we’re going to battle the families out against each other, and the winning family, we will be taking the last name of them.” That’s right. If Abela’s family wins, then she keeps her name and Borland changes his, and vice versa. In the video uploaded to Instagram, the families (still dressed in their formal attire), played tug of war, potato sack races, and more. By the end of the activities, the scorekeeper announces the couple’s new last name–Mr. and Mrs. Borland. View this post on Instagram It seemed that the Borland family had a ringer. While everyone was playing in sock feet and fancy clothes, one participant was sporting sneakers, shorts, and a t-shirt. Some could argue that it gave them an advantage, though it was only beneficial in the game of tug-of-war, not the booty-shaking ping-pong balls out of a tissue box game. Viewers of the unique surname wedding competition were thoroughly amused, with one saying, “This should’ve been televised.” One person takes notes, “When dressing for a wedding, pick dress that I could play field games in. GOT IT!” People playing tug of war outsidePhoto Credit: Canva Another quips, “Imagine losing your last name bc your cousins got too day drunk to win field day games.” “Planning this while knowing they’d all be in wedding attire is diabolical,” someone else notes. “This is actually the best thing we’ve ever seen at a wedding reception ever,” one wedding attendant says. Someone else writes, “The modern human version of natural selection, only the (last name) of the strong will survive.” One person jokes, “Imagine having your wifes last name because your sister wore a skirt and couldnt potato sack right lol.” The post Newlywed couple has their families compete to see who takes their partner’s last name appeared first on Upworthy.