If Lewis Hamilton wants to honour his mother why doesn't he call himself Carmen?

On the surface Lewis Hamilton's recent announcement that he intends to add 'Larbalestier' (which he calls his 'mother's name') to his current name sounds like an appreciation of women's rights, and his mother, Carmen Larbalestier, sounds like a wonderful woman.

Looked at a bit more closely, however, it's apparent he hasn't really thought this through, has he?

What we usually think of as a woman's surname is most often her father's name. And her father got the name from his father, and his father before him, all the way through history. Man-to-man names. No women allowed.

Yet somehow there is this strange myth that a male name handed down through the male line is 'our' name.

This means Lewis Hamilton (with no doubt the best of intentions) has performed the neat trick of adding one male surname to another male surname and presented it as female empowerment.

(Caveat: if Lewis Hamilton’s mother took her surname from her mother and her mother before her, then I bow out gracefully and take my hat off to them. But I have heard no evidence to suggest this is the case.)

And yes of course it’s every woman’s right to call herself whatever she wants (and that might be her father's name) but maybe we need to re-think the urban myth that clinging like a limpet to our nearest male relative’s name equals empowerment, whereas deciding to change to a marriage partner’s name equals downtrodden.

You have a choice over your marriage partner, whom you presumably you love, trust, and respect. You had no choice of your father.



So while I appreciate Hamilton's kind gesture, if he had decided to add ‘Carmen’ somewhere onto his moniker, now that would really would have made a statement.