I honestly hadn't thought about this, but the only other person in this entire family with our last name to pass on is my little brother--and he is much less likely than I am to pass on our last name, if you catch my drift.

My dad is the only boy on his side of the family with our last name--I may literally be the last person to carry this name on if my little brother confirms some of our suspicions. In the past, no one has ever had a problem because 1. The property we're talking about is Lord of the Rings and it really wasn't even popular until the 2000s, and 2. outside of email it actually seems like a pretty reasonable last name--it's really only the modern internet culture where people have email addresses based on characters and songs and bands that they like where my name feels like it isn't real. My dad is very good at what he does, so his name is more than enough--and bonus point in his life, he works in tech so a bit of nerd cred actually works in his favor--plus he works with people he has known since before I was born, so they have always known his last name and never really questioned its validity. This is a problem which is exclusive to me, as far as I know.

You guys are making me realize just how fucked up this is for my family. Even if you had a good solution, for their sake I don't think I can in good conscience change it. Maybe what I REALLY need is a preface letter explaining my last name. Haha