Did you change your last name?

[monkey68]

Just wondering how many people, when they got married, changed their last names. I'm currently about as single as they come, but with all my friends getting married and such, it;s just something I've been thinking about. Personally, I don't think I would change my last name legally. In professional situations, I plan to use my current last name, and in social situations, husband's last name. Changing my last name was never something I ever seriously considered, even when I was in a serious relationship that looked like we were going to get married. Just wondering if I'm the only oddball.

FWIW, my mom changed her name, and my sister changed her name as well. I would be the only one in my family to not change my name if I go that route if/when I get married.

 

[brockash]

I did change my last name, but if I had to do it over again, I would keep mine and hyphenate it. I don't know why, but I really kind of miss my last name.

 

[SC Minnie]

I changed my last name to DH's and use my maiden name as a middle name. I wish I would have kept my common maiden name as a last name though. DH's last name is very similar sounding with my first name and both are unusual. Dealing with people over the phone is not fun. I have to repeatly spell everything- the last name typically 2 or 3 times.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

When I got married, I didn't change my name. I am an only child, so I wanted my parents name to "live on". After 12 years of marrieage, we decided to have kids. When DS11 came along, I changed my name because I wanted to have the same name as the family. We did give DS11 my maiden name as a middle name, so it lives on.

 

[suejai]

I changed my name. Just thought it was the final binding to my husband, to make us the unit that we are. Also think it is much easier to have the same last name as my kids. I know lots of cases where the names are different and don't have any issues with it - not my business. It just made sense for me, maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Sue

 

[wowsmom]

Just wondering how many people, when they got married, changed their last names. I'm currently about as single as they come, but with all my friends getting married and such, it;s just something I've been thinking about. Personally, I don't think I would change my last name legally. In professional situations, I plan to use my current last name, and in social situations, husband's last name. Changing my last name was never something I ever seriously considered, even when I was in a serious relationship that looked like we were going to get married. Just wondering if I'm the only oddball.

FWIW, my mom changed her name, and my sister changed her name as well. I would be the only one in my family to not change my name if I go that route if/when I get married.

I did change my last name and so did my 3 sisters (and my mom).

 

[Camicar]

No. I kept my name. To be honest, even as a kid in the early 1960s, it never occurred to me that I would change my name upon marriage. Not even a question on the horizon and when I did get married, it wasn't even on the table.

No one had a problem with it except an old lady in our insurance agent's office who kept telling me I HAD to change my name (finally had to threaten to take our business elsewhere) and my spawn of the devil ILs. According to them, because I kept my name I was ipso facto, a tramp, slut, hobag, scum of the earth... Because it's a causal effect, you see. You keep your name that means you don't really have a commitment to the marriage which means you are or will become a slut, hobag, tramp, scum of the earth.

What I really was, was stupid for marrying into that family. But that's another story.

Conclusion: Kept my name, never thought twice about it, don't regret it, never caused any problems (with sane human beings), gave my name to my dd as her middle name. It's all good.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

I wanted to keep my maiden name, and not add DH's.
He wanted me to take his name.

I compromised and have both, MAIDEN MARRIED with a space, not a hyphen between them. When I was working full time, I routinely used the whole name. Now that I've been a SAHM for 10 years, most people just know me with MARRIED last name, but I still have my full name on any legal documents, financial papers, credit cards, medical records, etc.

Would I do it again? nope. based on the hassles I've had with credit cards (many have short name fields and can't get my whole name on the card) the DMV, difficulty linking multiple accounts at the dentist, insurance office, etc. etc. I recommend either keeping your maiden name, or taking your partner's name. The double last name has been a PITA. I should have stuck to my guns and kept my maiden name.

I wanted the kids to just have DH's last name, even if I had kept just my maiden name.

 

[dizluvah]

I changed my name. I had a vague sense that I wanted to keep my maiden name but for my DH it was a "deal breaker" - ie really important to him that I take his name. So I agreed and have no regrets. Keeping my name was not as important to me as me taking his name was to him. We were working on compromise before we even got married...

 

[Aimeedyan]

I did, but regret it. If we did it again, we would both hypenate our last names together or just keep our own last names.

 

[daughtersrus]

I changed my last name. My maiden name is a 10 letter German name and my married name is Polish name that the spelling was changed because of mispronunciation so there's no way that I could have hyphenated it.

The funny thing is that the way the spelling was changed on my married name, people often mistake it for being a Spanish/Mexican or African name. We get some strange looks when we use it hold a reservation because of this since DH is a blue-eyed blond. They think that we're stealing someones reservation.

 

[KristaTX]

Yes. But what I wish I had done was changed my name to Krista, Maiden Name, Husbands' Last Name. Krista is actually my middle name, and I should have done away with my mostly useless first name and used my maiden name as my middle name. Going by my middle name has always been a hassle anyway, so it would just make more sense to have Krista be my legal first name.

But I also have to say that I think it would cause a similar kind of confusion if I didn't have the same last name as my spouse. Keeping my entire maiden name and not taking his name would have just made my name even more complicated to explain.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

I changed my name. I had a vague sense that I wanted to keep my maiden name but for my DH it was a "deal breaker" - ie really important to him that I take his name. So I agreed and have no regrets. Keeping my name was not as important to me as me taking his name was to him. We were working on compromise before we even got married...

after 10 years - DH doesn't remember it being as important to him, now he says he'd have been ok with me not adding his name to mine. too late now! It would be way too much work to change my name again at this point. It was not a dealbreaker for him at the time though. If it had been, we probably would not be married!

 

[HsvTeacher]

I changed my last name when I got married. My maiden name is now my middle name. Part of the reason was convenience. The other part was that my given middle name and married last name both began with the same four letters, so it became a weird tongue-twister that I wanted to avoid.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I changed my name.

I married at 32 and I was just starting to get ahead in my field. I didn't care and it was a big deal to Husband. His first wife didn't take his name and it bothered him and said he never felt married.

I did keep one credit card with both my married and maiden names on it simply because I had a lot of things in my maiden name and though perhaps later on in life it would help to have some form of legal something with my maiden name.

It helped. I recently cashed in some childhood birthday savings bonds which had matured and they used my credit card as ID since I got the bonds when I was six, seven, and eight.

 

[Tigger2252]

I changed my last name because I wanted to have the same last name as my children.

 

[dislal]

I took my DH's name, but I kind of wish I would have hypenated it with my maiden name.

 

[bicker]

Relevant recent thread on this: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2140204

 

[Kimberly815]

I changed my last name. I am glad I did it because I like having the same name as my DH (I think it made us feel more like our own little two person family from the start) and now that we are expecting our first child, we will all have the same last name. It was a pain in the rear to make all the changes and it took a long time to get used to my new last name, but I don't regret it at all!

 

[Justanopinion]

I changed my name and would again in a heartbeat. I also think it would have been a deal breaker for him if I hadn't.


My high school sweetheart changed his last name to hers when he got married the first time. When they divorced he kept it to make her mad. When he remarried, his new wife took the name of his first wife also.