A man has legally changed his surname -- so that his wife's family name can live on.

Colin Welsh took the step shortly after marrying Katrina Featherstone. The couple had planned for Colin to take Katrina's name when they married last year.

But they discovered it is mandatory for a woman to take the man's surname in a church wedding service.

So Katrina had to become a Welsh for a few weeks until the couple changed their name by deed poll.

The pair, from Mannville Grove, near Fell Lane, Keighley, took this unusual step to preserve Katrina's family name.

Katrina is the last person in her family to be called Featherstone.

Her father, Neil, died 16 years ago and her mother Maureen has since remarried and taken the name Johnson. Katrina's sister is also married and is now Louise Grace.

As she has no brothers or uncles on her dad's side, Katrina realised that when she got married the family name would disappear.

To stop this happening the pair came up with the idea of Colin becoming a Featherstone.

This also meant that the couple could both share the same surname as Katrina's eight-year-old son, Connor.

Now the whole family, including baby Megan Louise, who is named after Colin's mum and Katrina's sister, share the Featherstone surname.

Colin said: "I told my dad I would be changing my name after the wedding and he was fine about it. If we were to have a boy we decided we would call him Harry Thomas, after my dad.

I have two nephews who are Welshes so that name is in no danger of dying out.

Katrina said: "We felt that preserving the name was the right thing to do in honour of my dad."

A spokesman at Keighley Register Office said: "There is no legal reason why a man cannot take the woman's name at the wedding ceremony. It is simply accepted practice.

"That said, I think the couple have gone about it the right way. One of the difficulties these days is the bureaucracy involved with documentation.

Had they not formally changed their names they could have faced difficulties with, for example bank, accounts.