Ciara Kelly has said she now “regrets” not sharing a name with her children and that with hindsight realises that she “didn’t give it enough thought” when she married. 

Today, Irish Times journalist Áine Kenny published an opinion piece lamenting the number of women who change their surname after walking down the aisle. 

It is, she declared, something that leaves her feeling “a little sad”. 

“Another good woman in a heterosexual relationship lost to the Mrs machine,” she wrote. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, presenter Ciara Kelly explained why she chose to stick with the name she always had. 

“I do think that if my husband had had a cooler name, I might have been slightly more tempted,” she said. 

“I think there is fashion at play here; when I was young and getting married, none of my pals in college took their husbands’ names. 

“Most of my pals from school who didn’t go to college, did. 

“So, there was different cohorts of people doing different things - and I think that’s still true today.

“I also do think, as someone who didn’t take their husband’s name and I now have a different name to all four of my children, that I didn’t give it enough thought. 

“I didn’t want to double barrel my name, I always thought that was for gits - that’s what I actually thought.” 

A bride and groom with guests at wedding reception. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Despite this, now she is a mother of four children, Ciara wonders if she made a mistake all those years ago. 

“I do have some regrets about having no name connection to my children,” she said. 

“Should they have been double barrelled? I don’t know. 

“Or should I have given them Kelly as their second name? I don’t know is the answer to that."

A couple cutting their wedding cake. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Fellow presenter Shane Coleman said that to be “totally honest” he would have been “a little bit disappointed” if his wife had taken his name. 

“I married Ev Conroy, I didn’t marry Ev Coleman,” he said. 

“We get texts from people saying, ‘Oh, it’s really difficult travelling’ - it isn’t.

“Or that it’s really confusing in school, I think people are capable of differentiating.

“There’s no issue.”

Main image: Ciara Kelly in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk