Buffy Changes Last Name

So, last week, Buffy actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, opted to surprise her husband (Freddie Prinze, JR) for his birthday by presenting him her new driver's license bearing the name Sarah Michelle Prinze. Aside from the fact that Sarah Michelle Prinze does not flow well off the tongue, I'm just relieved that hubby didn't pull a Gift of the Magi and change his name to Freddie Michelle Gellar. That would be awkward. Nonetheless, the actress formerly name as SMG has been taking some serious flack for this. Ann at Feministing writes,

Does the concept of giving away your own name as a birthday gift seem a little fucked up to anyone else? It doesn't strike me as weird to change your name of your own accord, even several years into the marriage. But framing it as a "gift" makes it seem like a sacrifice rather than something she wanted to do for herself. Kind of like the difference between "I got a boob job because I wanted one" and "I got a boob job for my husband's birthday."

Defamer calls it "a selflessly career-sabotaging act that should allow her to spend even more time at home with her sporadically employed spouse."

SMP does grace the cover of Maxim this month, oddly enough as "Woman of the Year." Not sure how she earned that one. I guess Maxim's writers really dug The Return.