Jana Kramer says it's 'hard' not sharing the same last name as her kids

Jana Kramer talked about what it’s like not having the same last name as her kids.

The One Tree Hill alum, who finalized her divorce from ex-husband Mike Caussin in 2021, took to Instagram Stories on Thursday to discuss sharing her kids — daughter Jolie, 6, and son Jace, 3 — with her former spouse.

When a follower asked her about Jolie and Jace's last name, Kramer responded, "The kids have my ex's last name. I did ask Jolie, 'Hey, would you want to be Kramer-Caussin?' And she was like, 'No, Mommy, that's too long.' And I was like, 'OK.'"

While Kramer, who previously co-hosted the iHeartRadio podcast Whine Down with Caussin in which they discussed their relationship, said it was "hard not having my last name as the kids," she also wrote she is a "Kramer girl for life."

The country singer, who is currently dating Ian Schinelli, recently spoke about some of the challenges of co-parenting with Caussin following their tumultuous split. On Christmas, she took to Instagram to share how sad she was that she was unable to spend the entire holiday with her kids, who spent one-half of the day celebrating with their father.

"To every mom or dad that just had to say goodbye to their kids on Christmas you are not alone in the cry fest, feeling angry sad, all the above," she wrote. "They say the first year is the hardest but I can't imagine any Christmas being easy saying goodbye."

Kramer recently said that she's struggling to co-parent with her ex.

"We're doing an OK job. I'll just say this: I'm doing my part in what I can do to be a good co-parent, and … he has to deal with his own side of things. If he doesn't want to be good at co-parenting, that's his thing," she told Us Weekly.

In an interview with Yahoo Life, she shared, "As hard as it is to be around your ex, always keep in mind what's best for the kids and what is best for the energy when you guys co-parent and you go back and forth and you're around each other. I just think it's so important because how I feel about my ex isn't how my kids should feel about their dad. So that's just something that I always try to remember: to put my own personal feelings [about her ex-husband] away and just go, 'OK, that's my stuff. That's not my kids' stuff.'"

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