You have a name. But is it actually yours?

Most women are born with their father's surname. If they marry, they take their husband's. Somewhere in all of that — a woman's own lineage, her own name — never existed. And most of us have accepted this so completely, we've stopped noticing it entirely.

In this episode, I sits with a question that's been brewing for a while: why, in a world where women own homes, own land, vote and lead — are we still giving up our name?

This is not a lecture. It's not a criticism of any woman's choices. It's an honest, direct, quietly radical conversation about a cultural programme that's been running so long it's become invisible.

I explore:

— Why women don't have their own lineage name — and what that's quietly saying to our daughters and sons — The distinction between what we've changed as women, and what we haven't — The story of what happened when she told a man she was going to keep her name (and what his response revealed) — How she chose her own name — and the shift in empowerment that followed — What Spain does differently, and why it matters — The alternative: both names, equal lineage, equal weight

Before you listen, I asks just one thing — let it digest. Sit with it for a few days before you react. Let your system dream on it, and then see how the world looks.

This episode is an invitation, not a prescription.

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Melanie Swan is a Trauma Resolution Specialist, Womb Medicine Woman, Perimenopause Guide, and host of The Sacred Womb Podcast. 

With over 24 years of clinical and metaphysical experience, she supports women to resolve repeating patterns at the root, heal the womb, and navigate perimenopause as a profound initiation into their true nature. 

She leads the Womb Medicine Woman Training® and is currently writing her first book, Sacred Womb, Sovereign Woman.

The Sacred Womb Podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.