How Léon sees names

Léon came bouncing out of school the day Marcel changed his surname:

Léon: Hi mum! Lots says people are allowed to change their names.
Me: That's right. Marcel just changed his.
Léon: So what's he called now then?
Me: Marcel Buchanan. Charlotte says she's going to change hers too as soon as she's allowed to.
Léon: Well I don't think it would be fair to make me a Buchanan when I'm older.

Now this puzzled me given he's the only one of my big kids who has no memories of ever living with his father and none of us as a couple. Thomas has been his father all his life and the only family he's ever really known are the Buchanans.

Despite the fact that Marcel's change of name means a great deal to me (or perhaps because of that fact), I have tried to stay well and truly on the fence because I wanted it to be entirely his own choice, given the gravity of it. I gave him the pros and the cons without trying to influence him. So Léon's reaction to 'Buchanan' surprised me.

So the conversation continued:

Léon: My Danish is the best out of all of us. It's better than Anna's and Amaia's so if they are allowed a Widmann on the end of their Buchanan to show they are half Scottish and half Danish, then I should get one too. I definitely deserve the Widmann bit to show how good I am at Danish.

So it wasn't a longing to stay Gautier after all, more a perceived status symbol he attaches to the Widmann half of the girls' names! It seems to be only a matter of time before I have two 'wee' Buchanans and three wee-er Buchanan-Widmanns!

Phew, he had me worried there for a bit!