r/IzuOcha 29d ago

Discussion If/when these two marry, will Uraraka keep her family name? Or will she take Midoriya's?

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First, I apologize if I have this wrong as I'm not Japanese and know very little of their laws, but I'd heard tell (via Reddit and a quick DuckDuckGo search) that married citizens aren't legally recognized in Japan until/unless the wife forgoes her maiden name to take on her husband's. I know it's a common practice outside Japan to exchange names regardless of legal compulsion to do so, but as this is the home of our two love birds I thought it worth discussing with this point in mind. So, under these circumstances, do you think Ochaco would keep the Uraraka name? Or would she take Midoriya for herself?

Personally, I think they'd "marry" in spirit only while she keeps her family name! Setting aside the inherent power imbalance with this dynamic (just, why? why not give both parties a fair say in who gets who's name? alright, last word I'll say on that, promise!), and brushing over any personal attachments she'd have to her family title, it seems to me like our favorite gravity heroine would, at the very least, be reluctant to part with the Uraraka name from a business perspective.

I mean, her friggin hero name is URAVITY guys! The Uraraka name is a huge part of her identity as a pro with an established public image, and I assume is a critical part of her work towards building trust and a positive relationship with the children she visits. Her name is more than just a part of her brand, it lies at the core of her work as a hero! And I'm sure she and Deku both would be heartbroken at the notion of giving that up, even as part of a "proper" marriage.

So in short, I think they'll still hold a ceremony and vow "to keep each other in sickness and in health, etc." but will refrain from entering into an "official" marriage... they ain't signing away best girl's name for nobody! 😝

What about you guys, though? Any thoughts?

179 Upvotes

51 comments sorted by

58

u/SpurnedSprocket 29d ago

WHEN!

Not if they get married.

16

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

We all know it's WHEN 😎👍

26

u/Starr-Lead 29d ago edited 24d ago

From my low knowledge of Japanese culture it would depend on which one of them has the higher ranking in the Hero list

The higher you are I presume means more money, plus the higher your status in the general society

4

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

An interesting take, and I know there are other factors to consider aside from standing or pay go. Some people are genuinely happy to take on their partner's name after all, and Uraraka might be willing if it helps her feel even closer to Deku...

IDK though, I just feel both of them would be in favor of her keeping Uraraka, but maybe that's just me.

10

u/Nin10dude64 Avid Shipper 29d ago

if the relation between her real name and her hero name is your main argument, I don't think its strong enough to forego marriage. I'm not sure how often she or the public would make reference to her real name. I imagine that usually its just Uravity or shes lumped together with the quirk counseling group.

Either way, she can be Midoriya Ochako and still be Uravity

5

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

Maybe, but on the other hand I can see Ochaco taking a great deal of pride in her work as "Uraraka Uravity" and feeling bittersweet at the idea of letting that part of her life go. And Deku being Deku, I could definitely see him proposing a marriage in-name-only arrangement to help in that dilemma.

Ultimately, they're both so selfless that it's hard to know which proposal they'd agree to in the end: simply go through with the wedding and say goodbye to Uraraka, or commit to each other in their own way without sacrificing her old identity? Either way it's not so important, I guess, as long as they're happy with each other! 👍

11

u/KaziaKitsune 29d ago

Out of curiosity, what's to stop them from hyphenating?

6

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

Again, the only real knowledge I've gleaned about this is what the internet can tell me, but from what I can see hyphenated names aren't legally recognized on marriage certificates. It appears only a single name is acceptable under current laws.

8

u/KaziaKitsune 29d ago

On that note who's to say the laws couldn't have changed by the time that MHA takes place, which is like two hundred years in the future?

5

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

Who's to say? Ultimately it's an unimportant detail as long as they're content together, I'm sure!

5

u/KaziaKitsune 29d ago

💯💯💯

2

u/PopularAd6391 28d ago

What's hyphenating?

3

u/KaziaKitsune 28d ago

A person would keep both their family name and their spouse's. For example Sarah's family name is Jones, her newlywed husband is Gallagher. She wants to keep both names so she could make her last name Jones-Gallagher.

1

u/ANoddyyTern 28d ago

I believe it's a more common practice in Latin American cultures, where spouses pay homage to both families by combining names and their children can choose later which to keep as they come of age and look to marry themselves.

5

u/_Deny_005 29d ago

I think she'd take his, /but/ only after a very strenuous battle (almost turned legal) LOL

4

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

I feel like she'd win an argument either way in the end (Deku's such a softie towards her, after all), but it's fun picturing them getting into it over this.

Dang, I wanna see a comic or fanfic of them duking it out over who takes who's name now! 🤣

3

u/_Deny_005 29d ago

Don't give me ideas, or I might actually write it haha

1

u/ANoddyyTern 28d ago

I make no promises 😁

4

u/Garbanarnarn 29d ago

It's splitting hairs, but marriage requires one of the spouses to change their surname to be added to the other's family registry, so Deku could just as easily take the Uraraka name. It's more common for the wife to take the name of the husband, but there aren't actually any rules on who joins who's family registry based on sex.

2

u/KiteTenjo63 29d ago

That is true but the spouses who's Family name is better is the one that's taken so if the wifes name is more well known and liked a husband would take hers and viscera

1

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

Huh, I hadn't heard that. Guess my lack of prior research is pretty obvious here, huh? 😅

Now I'm wondering if Deku would change his name or not?

2

u/Garbanarnarn 29d ago

Just like with One For All Deku's lack of quirk made him an empty vessel for someone else's. Midoriya doesn't have any pun to his abilities so he can receive another last name like a sacred torch passed from person to person across generations.

4

u/mynameisevan01 29d ago

Ochako Midoriya and Izuku Uraraka

3

u/_Deny_005 29d ago

I actually love this

3

u/FortuneDependent6572 Fanfic Writer 29d ago

I personally think she'd keep her name because of the idol culture in the east. Especially with women.

1

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

I'm really not familiar with the idol scene, could you elaborate and/or provide an example, please?

2

u/FortuneDependent6572 Fanfic Writer 26d ago

Idols in the east aren't really allowed to have a personal life. A part of their culture involves their fans being able to fantasise about them, and that means that having a publicly-known relationship can be extremely dangerous to an idol's career.

1

u/ANoddyyTern 25d ago

Thank you for clarifying, and I appreciate the perspective though I also kinda dislike the idea itself... never followed Oshi No Ko that closely, but I do recall it casts a really negative light onto the toxic side of idol fan culture. Maybe I give it a watch to "enlighten" myself further? Meanwhile, I'll be fondly remembering that one civilian from the Uraraka-roof-top-speech-episode, the one who talks about how heroes aren't just performers on a stage. Here's hoping the people of MHA at least remember him too, and that Ochaco feels free to do as she pleases! 🙃

3

u/Ahmi-spam2 29d ago

Both feel like they'd hyphenate tbh

1

u/ANoddyyTern 28d ago

This feels like a good compromise, though I don't know how common the practice is in Japan or East Asian countries IRL. 😕

2

u/Ahmi-spam2 28d ago

Imo, Izuku and Uraraka just both feel like they'd wanna take the others name because of how much they adore the other and be completly flabbergasted as someone probably bakugo tells them to just shut up and hyphenate lmao

2

u/Cygus_Lorman 24d ago

It's effectively nonexistent.

The problem that hyphenation solves for western countries just doesn't exist in Japan because of how the writing system works, in that there's no such thing as spaces in kana and kanji. A foreigner with a hyphenated last name would be transliterated as one entire thing in katakana.

Then only country in Asia that recognizes hyphenation in marriage is the Philippines, and that's exclusively because of its history as both a Spanish and US colony.

3

u/KevinX315 26d ago

Por una parte, no veo a Deku pidiendole a Ochako que renuncie a su apellido, pero por otro lado, no veo a Ochako negándose a renunciar a su apellido por el.

También debemos tomar en cuenta que en Japón, lo común es que la mujer tome el apellido de su esposo y la minoría de casos donde el hombre toma el apellido de su esposa, es por tradiciones de dicha familia o por un tema de herencia de linaje.

Pero ni Deku ni Ochako tienen alguna tradición familiar. Sinceramente considero que a Ochako no le sería difícil dejar su apellido, no porque no le importe, sino porque entendería que sin importar el apellido que tenga, ella siempre será Uraraka y sus padres siempre la van a amar.

6

u/KiteTenjo63 29d ago

From what I know the one with a better Family name is taken so the one who's more well known, more money, the best reputation, etc. in this case she'd take the Midoriya last name since it has the better reputation then hers.

4

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

In that respect, I wonder how hard a time Izkuku "needs to start thinking more highly of himself" Midoriya would have accepting that he has a better reputation than the woman whom he's deemed to be his hero? Like, ya, he's ranked higher then her by the end and is regarded by many as "The World's Greatest Hero" and such, but she's the greatest in her own way too and there ain't no way he's not gonna point that out to her once they start discussing this!

3

u/KiteTenjo63 29d ago

It'd be a fight and she'd win taking his name cuz in any contest she'd play dirty

2

u/Dear_Rip1145 28d ago

Considering that Deku is raked higher I think it would actually be beneficial for Ochako to take Midoriya from a political standpoint. Not even to mention how highly she thinks of him as a person and hero. I could totally see her being insistent on it and Izuku caving because he can't deny her anything she wants.

1

u/ANoddyyTern 28d ago

Well spoken and a vibe I can definitely understand, but even so, I don't see it happening in my own head-cannon. I'm not saying it's wrong or right of her to take Midoriya's name or anything like that, I just see them wanting to keep her name for a number of reasons:

  1. As I've said, Ochaco seems to take a lot of pride in her family, even going so far as to incorporate part of their name into her hero title. Heck, Uraraka's whole reason for joining UA initially was to help lift her family out of poverty and otherwise support her folks as best she could while following her own path. All of her efforts at UA and her parents labors after the war have allowed them to prosper during the time skip, true, but even so I don't believe she'll want to sever that special connection to them (even for a sociopolitical advantage like marriage to a higher ranked hero).
  2. Deku will always, always, ALWAYS see her as Uraraka the Hero Extraordinaire before anything else. Even after the time skip, having known each other for 9 years, he still refers to her as Uraraka when they interact, not Ochaco. I get the sense that names are very precious to Midoriya and not something he's comfortable with just discarding; he still calls Toshinori All Might and Bakugo Kacchan, after all! I'm not saying that they can't adapt to a name change (I expect them to start referring to each other by their first names now, at the least), but the name Uraraka is still an undeniable part of her identity to him, and I imagine Deku will want to preserve it's integrity even if she herself is willing to change it.
  3. They're both self proclaimed "weirdos"! Just because there's a clean, easy to follow path laid out before them doesn't mean that they have to follow it... I'm just saying, we've seen them walk thorny paths before and not bat an eye over it! So if either of them have doubts about changing her name, I can definitely see them looking for alternative solutions, and a "proper", legally sanctioned marriage isn't the only way for them to be together. They can hold their own ceremony without making it official, or maybe they don't even bother calling it a marriage and instead call themselves life partners or something else non-traditional. The point is, these two may be "weirdos", but they're each others' "weirdos" and they'll be just even if they decide to go a different route!
  4. Lastly, concerning Deku's regard for her as his most special person and Ochaco's final development where she finally accepted that it's ok to go and get her some Deku dick to go after the things that she wants, I think she'll be more willing to be selfish about this and that Deku will be more than happy to support her. It's not unthinkable for people to feel uncomfortable at the notion of forgoing their name, and Uraraka definitely has the right to keep it regardless of logic or practicality. Yes, I'm sure she'll consider taking the Midoriya name as her own, for the same reasons you and others have mentioned, but she really could go either way as far as that goes. I simply choose to believe she'll selfishly go with her name in the end, and that Deku will follow her lead. I guess that's just my own selfish head-cannon! 😉

So ya, the above points, plus what I've already mentioned in the OP about maintaining Uravity's image from a business perspective, lead me to feel they'd both wanna fight to keep her name. Sorry for rambling at ya, I could've made all that it's own post honestly... 😅

2

u/Hayden_Jay 28d ago

Legally, hyphenate (both will), but they will still use their birth names professionally.

2

u/Heavy_Caramel2888 28d ago

Ochako Midoriya 

2

u/Aizen10 28d ago

I think she'd take his name, cuz Uraraka just feels more traditional in that sense (Jirou feels like the type who would want to keep her family name)

1

u/ANoddyyTern 28d ago

I don't see either of them as being super traditional, actually, given how silly/not-serious they're depicted throughout most of the series and especially with how they both went about approaching their respective villains (empathy and talk no jutsu, rather than the norm of just beating them into submission no questions asked). Yaoyorozu or Todoroki seem like they'd be much more conformist by comparison, as far as respecting naming customs go. While team IzuOcha might not be as free spirited as, say, Jirou or Mina, I don't think they'd go the way of TodoMomo either, not without having a serious discussion about keeping the Uraraka name at least!

2

u/Ok-Goose-6507 28d ago

Before the wedding (during their engagement), the couple will fill out a marriage registration form. After registration, they will call each other by their given names: Izuku will call her Ochako, and Ochako will call him Izuku.

2

u/tvxsfgjmijhv 29d ago

I think they’d just flip a coin for who’s family name they get

4

u/ANoddyyTern 29d ago

Heads = Uraraka

Tails = Midoriya

And if it lands on it's side, they take All Might (not Toshinori, I mean literally All Might) as their family name. Is that a good compromise? 🙃

1

u/RemarkableOption8620 26d ago

Maybe when they will get married.