A couple who couldn’t decide whose last name they were going to share when they got married settled the disagreement by flipping a coin during their wedding.
Pearl, 28, and Collin Hansen, 25, from Leesburg, Virginia, met and fell in love when they were both working at their college library.
Collin, a software engineer, proposed to Pearl, a teacher, in November 2021, and they scheduled their wedding for March 26, 2022.
But as the big date neared, the couple was faced with a major decision – whose last name they were going to use after they got married.
Rather than debate, the pair made the surprising decision to leave it up to chance, flipping a coin to pick the winner.
A couple who couldn’t decide on whose last name they were going to take when they got married settled the disagreement by flipping a coin during their wedding
As Pearl, 28, and Collin Hansen’s, 25, wedding date neared, the couple was faced with a major decision – whose last name they were going to use after they got married
Although it’s traditional for the woman to take the man’s last name, Pearl was hesitant to give hers up.
As a teacher, she knew it would be difficult for her students to start calling her by a new name.
But because they were both the only people in their families that would carry their last name to the next generation, they couldn’t reach an agreement.
Collin and Pearl, whose maiden name is Lee, decided to leave the decision up to chance – by flipping a coin.
Pearl came up with the idea after she heard someone joke about it on an episode of the Freakonomics podcast.
‘The idea stuck,’ Pearl recalled to Insider. ‘I thought it was really funny.’
‘We flip coins a lot,’ Collin added.
At the end of their ceremony, the officiant did indeed flip a coin. Collin ended up winning, and they took his last name – making them Mr. and Mrs. Hansen.
Collin and Pearl decided to leave the decision up to chance – by flipping a coin, which Collin said they often do to settle disagreements
At the end of their ceremony, the officiant pulled out a coin and tossed it in the air. Collin won, and they took his last name – making them Mr. and Mrs. Hansen
One of their wedding guests, Alyssa Danielle, captured the moment and uploaded it to TikTok, where it quickly went viral – gaining more than one million views since it was posted in March.
‘POV: Your friends decide whose last name they are taking by a flip of a coin at the alter,’ Alyssa wrote in the video.
The clip shows the officiant tossing the coin in the air, catching it, and placing it on his hand as the couple both smiles at one another.
Pearl looks slightly disappointed as he shared the results with the couple, while Collin lets out a little laugh. The two then turn and start heading back up the aisle together.
Many viewers took to the comment section to share their thoughts on the not-so-traditional way of picking a new last name.
‘This is how it should be done,’ wrote one person, while another added, ‘Honestly best idea I’ve ever seen!’
One of their wedding guests captured the moment and uploaded it to TikTok, where it quickly went viral – gaining more than one million views
Others shared their own ideas, with some suggesting that couples make up a whole new last name and others claiming they should combine their names.
‘My wife and I chose our own last name,’ said someone else. ‘So cool to see so many people open to this now.’
‘I know a couple whose families had a paintball match to decide! Winning side determined the last name,’ read another comment.
A different user suggested, ‘I want to create a hybrid name or pick one altogether different.’
‘We decided to both change our last name to the city we met in,’ wrote one viewer.
‘We combined the last three letters of each of our names,’ shared another.
‘It was honestly just so ironic that the thing that we’d get our 15 minutes of fame for was a coin flip,’ joked Pearl of their newfound internet fame.
Many people took to the comment section to share their thoughts on the not-so-traditional way of picking a new last name
Others shared their own ideas – with some suggesting that couples make up a whole new last name and others claiming they should combine their names
Alyssa explained that she uploaded the sweet moment online because it ‘really resonated with her.’
‘Their coin toss really resonated with me, and given the amazing number of comments posted about the video, apparently it resonated with lots of others as well,’ she explained.
‘I think the reason is that it’s a more equitable way of deciding the last name when you get married, instead of just assuming that the man in the relationship is the one who gets to keep his name.
‘In this day and age, with hyphenated names and women not changing their name at all, this is a nice way to uphold an old tradition of the name change, and at the same time modernizing that concept by essentially leveling the playing field.’
In the end, Collin said that whatever you decide to do when it comes to your last name, it’s important that both parties are happy with the decision.
‘The coin flip’s definitely an option, but I think that honestly, it’s most important that you’re both comfortable with whatever’s happening because you will get pushback,’ he concluded.
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