>>>>>Hi Dan,
>>>>>
>>>>>> He was too young to join us in the bar! < g >
>>>>>
>>>>>No, I wasn't!!!! ;-) I just had to show my ID. The only time I couldn't was when we were visiting some place and I forgot my ID in the hotel room.:-( Who would think of carrying an ID five years after being able to order a glass of wine at any restaurant at home. <g> Well, but you still have strange rules in the US. They seem to card anyone looking younger than 26-30 in some states (Oregon, Washington) and don't accept official documents like the ID, only unofficial ones like a driver's permission. That is confusing when they want to see my driver license when I pay by credit card. The license still has my old name on it, the credit card the new name. Obviously, the signature looks different, as well. So far, nobody objected that. <g>
>>>>
>>>>Old name?
>>>
>>>When Christof married, he took his wife's family name. Earlier his name was Christof Lange.
>>
>>Is this a German thing?
>
>It's not unusual here in Europe, especially if the man has a very common family name. My guess is that it happens in 5-10% of all marriages.

Oh, ok. I'm just so glad the women change their names here. It would be kind of strange to change my last name to my spouse's. I can understand women that keep their last name, but it does make it easier for everyone to have the last name.

I figured maybe his wife's last name was famous - you know, ancient German royalty or something <g> - and using that one beat using the old one. ;~)