When to change my name?

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cfriend416

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Sep 28, 2012
Looking for input!

I am getting married this November. My fiance and I are putting off our honeymoon until 3 months later in February 2016, as I am a teacher and will be on vacation then. Neither of use have passports, but we are planning on applying for them soon. The travel company we'd like to use requires passport #s to book, and we'd like to book within the next few months.

I do plan on taking my fiance's last name legally, but will probably continue to use my maiden name in my professional circle. So it doesn't matter to me TOO much when I change my name. So would it make more sense to wait to change my name until after the honeymoon? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I do change my name right after the wedding, I'd have to get my passport reissued, right? Would 3 months even be long enough for the name change to go through and to get the new passport? If I did decide to change it before the trip, could I book airfare in the upcoming months using what will be my married name, even though it's not my name yet? Is that too risky? If I don't change it, is it weird to go 3 months without changing my name?

Gahhh, so many questions!!! Sorry, and thanks for any input!
 
it may have changed over the years, but all it entailed when I went from my maiden name to dh's last name was changing my driver's license and social security-both of which just took a copy of the certified marriage license so it was a couple week's turnaround not months.

one thing i'll suggest as far as the professional aspect (since h/r rules are similar in teaching positions as to what they were in my former public service field)-check w/your h/r now to find out IF you can go by a different professional name vs. your legal name. in my case I only had 2 choices-not change my name legally OR go with a hyphenated last name (and get people to verbally drop the second portion of the last name). this was b/c everything had to line up name wise for h/r-pension, healthcare, personnel records....and if you do opt to go with a hyphenated last name MAKE SURE SOCIAL SECURITY GETS IT RIGHT b/c they made mine a second middle name on their records so while all my professional records, health insurance and such recognize me as barkey x. x-x, social security records (and everything they feed info to) recognize me as barkley x.x. x (and it can be a pain to deal with).
 
I don't think you'd be able to get a passport with your married name, before you have your signed marriage license in hand and are married.

I think it would be a waste of money to obtain a passport in time to book your honeymoon and then have it reissued in your married name. And if you need the passport to book, I'm not sure how much trouble it would be to have the passport info updated after booking.

I'd suggest travelling with the passport that has your maiden name and updating it before your next trip (after your honeymoon).
 
We didn't go overseas for our honeymoon, but I traveled on my maiden name. My airplane ticket, my driver's licence, etc. all still had my maiden name until we got back to do the paperwork.
 


Thanks for the input so far! @barkley, when I say keeping my maiden name professionally, I mean my students would still call me by my maiden name and my email address would keep my maiden name. I would change it on anything official. I need to double check but I don't think there will be any problem with me doing that.
 
I was still using my maiden name professionally for eight years after I married. The problem was that I'd forget and sign checks, etc. with my maiden name. My bank finally suggested that I come in and do signature cards for both names so they'd be able to stop calling me about the wrong signature. Of course, that was waaaaaay back in the olden days when few women kept their maiden names and banks actually had humans who looked at the checks. And people used checks......
 
Seeing as how your legal name would change with social security and the IRS, you would do this before filing your 2015 taxes if you plan to file jointly. I would file the name change with social security and then obtain a passport.
 


Pugsly said:
I don't think you'd be able to get a passport with your married name, before you have your signed marriage license in hand and are married.

I think it would be a waste of money to obtain a passport in time to book your honeymoon and then have it reissued in your married name. And if you need the passport to book, I'm not sure how much trouble it would be to have the passport info updated after booking.

I'd suggest travelling with the passport that has your maiden name and updating it before your next trip (after your honeymoon).
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If there's any question about turn-around time and you need to book fairly soon I'd also recommend you getting a passport in your current name and doing the legal changes afterwards. I began using my husband's surname socially and at work as soon as we were married but didn't get my "paperwork" changed for almost a year. Here in Alberta you have to have the marriage officiant file the signed marriage "register" with the Province and then they send you a legal Certificate of Marriage, which is needed to change D/L and apply for a passport. Just getting our Certificate of Marriage back took months. And BTW...Congratulations!!
 
Travel under your maiden name. As long as you request the change within one year of getting married, there is no charge to re-issue your passport.
 
CyndiLooWho said:
Travel under your maiden name. As long as you request the change within one year of getting married, there is no charge to re-issue your passport.
Click to expand...
This. Get the passport in your maiden name and then change it after the honeymoon if you wish
 
I had the same issue (except DH is a teacher). I also decided to wait so DD could get used to the idea of us being married. I ended up changing my name and giving him the official letter as our first anniversary gift (it is the Paper anniversary!)

:) He loved it
 
I changed mine right after and even before marriage in some cases. I guess I got lucky in that my County/State gave us two copies of marriage license prior to wedding and Off./witnesses signed both copies. So I had one copy to start name change process and one to be filed with County/state I was married in. I was so efficient and requesting things I had person who was fulfilling copy requests call me saying she couldn't find our license in system!! I changed my name on SS card and DL 3 days after being married. My nsg. license took about 2 weeks because I had to wait for certified copies. Some CC were done via phone without issue some wanted copies of ML, some I just cancelled cards as I never shopped those stores or the store were local to my old home.
 
cfriend416 said:
Thanks for the input so far! @barkley, when I say keeping my maiden name professionally, I mean my students would still call me by my maiden name and my email address would keep my maiden name. I would change it on anything official. I need to double check but I don't think there will be any problem with me doing that.
Click to expand...

I understand-that was my intent w/my clients and co-workers too. you might want to check w/either your hr or systems administrators if you're speaking of a school's email (like the ones I use for my kid's teachers), if they've got their ducks in a row as far as trying to keep everything streamlined and consistent throughout then the minute you submit a name change through whatever mechanism exists (in my case a form w/the marriage license attached) that triggers notification to benefits (for health/dental/life & ltd insurance), retirement (for pension), AND SYSTEMS (who immediately changes your name and email address to match it (though they were nice enough to do a forwarding message on my old one for a period of time before they totally deactivated it) and written notifications that you don't nesc. personally send out). when systems would get a name change from our hr it also triggered the requirement that we get a new id badge and turn in the old one as well.
 
barkley said:
I understand-that was my intent w/my clients and co-workers too. you might want to check w/either your hr or systems administrators if you're speaking of a school's email (like the ones I use for my kid's teachers), if they've got their ducks in a row as far as trying to keep everything streamlined and consistent throughout then the minute you submit a name change through whatever mechanism exists (in my case a form w/the marriage license attached) that triggers notification to benefits (for health/dental/life & ltd insurance), retirement (for pension), AND SYSTEMS (who immediately changes your name and email address to match it (though they were nice enough to do a forwarding message on my old one for a period of time before they totally deactivated it) and written notifications that you don't nesc. personally send out). when systems would get a name change from our hr it also triggered the requirement that we get a new id badge and turn in the old one as well.
Click to expand...

I've checked with several people, including my boss who said it's been done before. Just need to confirm with the head of HR. It may have been a big deal where you worked, but it isn't where I work. We don't operate on one joint system like that. Which is probably odd, really, because we're a very large school.
 
Check with how it works in your state. When we applied for our marriage license, I put my married name on there and as of our wedding day, my name was changed. Then I had to wait for the official license, etc. to change my SS card, and then had to wait for my SS card to change my driver's license, etc. If I changed my name later, I would have had to pay an extra fee. With the processing time for all of that, traveling 3 months after your wedding on your maiden name should not be an issue. As for school, the kids will adapt to your new name so unless there is a compelling reason to keep your maiden name, I'd just let the kids know you got married--I'm assuming they know anyway--and your new name is _______. Same with the email, just send an email to the parents saying you got married and your new name is ______.
 
I would go with maiden name on the passport, plane ticket, and driver’s license. As long as the names on all your ID’s match, the folks at the airport won’t know or care what you go by at work or socially! Plus, that way you can get started on the planning and booking of the trip. Then just change everything over after you get back. If you don’t plan on travelling internationally again then who even cares about the passport. Congratulations!
 
I took my maiden name as my middle name after we got married, and made sure both names appear on my driver's license. I've never had an issue with using either name since then. In fact, I still have credit cards in my maiden name (almost 14 years later) and have never had a problem using them.
 
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