Did you change your last name?

NestCayla

Hey Married Nesties! Did you legally change your name after getting hitched? Take our poll and let us know why/why not

BlueBirdMB

Nope.  I never had one ounce of desire to change my name.  

Reasons:

1. I am simply not Mrs HisLastName.  That's not my name.

2. I have professional reasons why I can't change it easily.

3. I understand that having the same last name doesn't make you a family.  We are a family regardless of our names.

4. My mother didn't change her name.  I have my father's name.  It never made growing up in their family difficult or odd in any way.

ab6704a

I didn't see any need to and I like my name the way it is.  DH and I talked about it, it wasn't important to him and we are firmly in the childfree camp so not having the same last name as future children wasn't a consideration either. 

Ilumine

I did take his last name, but I made my last name my new middle name (no hyphen).  

I did it because my husband was military at the time.  I worked with the DEERS computer system  when I worked for TRICARE.  I would have at least 1 "different last name than the sponsor" issue a week.  I just did not want to deal with that crap when DH was deployed.  

People understand hyphens better than computers do.  So my professional life (I had testified for congress before I married) was not affected by my use of First, Former Last, New Last on professional paperwork.  I could still be googled. 

SmrBrd2012

I took his last name for a few reasons...

For one, my maiden name has always been difficult for people to pronounce. Since I have an unusual first name too, I wanted to have one "easy" name! :P

Secondly, it was really important to my husband. I jokingly asked him what if I kept my other name and he was really sad about it, it made him feel rejected in a way, I guess.

I also just like the idea of us all having the same last name, especially when we have kids.

For me there was just no question about it. I didn't completely give it up though. I had no middle name before so I made my maiden name my middle name.

stokesm21

I answered yes but now I'm not sure.  In Canada you can (and I don't see why it would be any different in the U.S?!) "assume" your husband's last name.  On every piece of identification, my SIN, driver's licence, insurance, credit cards, banking info etc, I have his last name.  However, my birth certificate did not change and still says my maiden name. Changing my birth certificate would require me to make a legal name change which costs money and is very messy to change back if you ever get a divorce.  (Yes, I said that.  Horrible, I know! lol)   So I guess my answer would be no if we are getting technical.  I simply assumed his name and did not legally change it.       

SmrBrd2012

@stokesm21

I don't think you CAN change the name on your birth certificate...it just has the name you were given when you were born. If the SIN is the equivalent of a social security number, then that pretty much means it's legal.

stokesm21

SmrBrd2012 said: @stokesm21
I don't think you CAN change the name on your birth certificate...it just has the name you were given when you were born. If the SIN is the equivalent of a social security number, then that pretty much means it's legal.

Looked it up and a legal name change in Canada can and does change your birth certificate. Changing your SIN (and other identification) does not make it a legal name change.     (Stupid thing not quoting properly!)  *angry*face* lol      

nyc artist

I added his last name to mine with a hypen. I am the only person in the world with my First Name + Maiden Name, which is great for my career in art. His last name is common and there are lots of women with my First Name + His Last Name.  Plus, I always liked the sound of my last name. But I did want to feel like part of his family "officially" so I added it to mine. And I'm super glad that I did it this way...best of both worlds. 

consciousdear88

Changed my name to his after we got married.

I've always had issues with my maiden name getting mispronounced or misspelled. 

I figured it'd be easier to switch it over since my new last name is technically a noun as well.

GilliC

stokesm21 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:

@stokesm21

I don't think you CAN change the name on your birth certificate...it just has the name you were given when you were born. If the SIN is the equivalent of a social security number, then that pretty much means it's legal.

Looked it up and a legal name change in Canada can and does change your birth certificate. Changing your SIN (and other identification) does not make it a legal name change.     (Stupid thing not quoting properly!)  *angry*face* lol      

What if you weren't born in Canada? They couldn't possibly change your birth certificate if it was issued by another government!

sillygoosegirl

stokesm21 said:

I answered yes but now I'm not sure.  In Canada you can (and I don't see why it would be any different in the U.S?!) "assume" your husband's last name.  On every piece of identification, my SIN, driver's licence, insurance, credit cards, banking info etc, I have his last name.  However, my birth certificate did not change and still says my maiden name. Changing my birth certificate would require me to make a legal name change which costs money and is very messy to change back if you ever get a divorce.  (Yes, I said that.  Horrible, I know! lol)   So I guess my answer would be no if we are getting technical.  I simply assumed his name and did not legally change it.       

My understanding is that something very similar is true in the US too.  Changing your name when you get married is "assuming" the name, and different (not to mention much cheaper) than actually legally changing your name.  However, I only ever did the one former process, not the latter, so I don't have personal experience.  

DH also "assumed" my maiden name as a middle name when we got married.  The first person he talked to at the DMV wouldn't let him do it unless he legally changed his name and came back with a birth certificate with the new name.  So he went back another day with just the marriage license.  The person he got that day thought it was SO COOL, and put his name change through the same as if he was a woman making a change upon getting married.  And since then, it's never been an issue: he had one government issued ID with the new name and so it was easy to get more.  Go figure.  

beyondwords106

I loved changing my last name.  It makes me feel more connected with him and makes it seem more official that we are married.  I do love my maiden name but I wanted to show my respect for him by taking his name.  Also when we have children I don't want there to be confusion. 

SmrBrd2012

sillygoosegirl said:

stokesm21 said:

I answered yes but now I'm not sure.  In Canada you can (and I don't see why it would be any different in the U.S?!) "assume" your husband's last name.  On every piece of identification, my SIN, driver's licence, insurance, credit cards, banking info etc, I have his last name.  However, my birth certificate did not change and still says my maiden name. Changing my birth certificate would require me to make a legal name change which costs money and is very messy to change back if you ever get a divorce.  (Yes, I said that.  Horrible, I know! lol)   So I guess my answer would be no if we are getting technical.  I simply assumed his name and did not legally change it.       

My understanding is that something very similar is true in the US too.  Changing your name when you get married is "assuming" the name, and different (not to mention much cheaper) than actually legally changing your name.  However, I only ever did the one former process, not the latter, so I don't have personal experience.  

  It's true that it's easier to change your name through marriage than otherwise changing it but it is still very much a legal name change and not just assuming a name.

Lilyrose4242

We both changed our names. We took the first part of his last name and combine it with the last part of my last name! It sounds so much better than either of them did before hand. Plus it feels like it's entirely us.

We both had to go through the whole legal name change deal though, but it wasn't too bad sense it's online now.

NoneForUs

stokesm21 said:

I answered yes but now I'm not sure.  In Canada you can (and I don't see why it would be any different in the U.S?!) "assume" your husband's last name.  On every piece of identification, my SIN, driver's licence, insurance, credit cards, banking info etc, I have his last name.  However, my birth certificate did not change and still says my maiden name. Changing my birth certificate would require me to make a legal name change which costs money and is very messy to change back if you ever get a divorce.  (Yes, I said that.  Horrible, I know! lol)   So I guess my answer would be no if we are getting technical.  I simply assumed his name and did not legally change it.       

I live in Canada too. Most wives assume their husband's last name as changing a name on a birth certificate is a royal pain. I still wanted my birth certificate to have the name I was born with.

I changed my name because I wanted to show my husband that I was happy to become part of his family. I also felt that a new name symbolized a new life as I have been through many terrible things. I also received some pressure from my MIL and my dear old dad but their comments were moot since I was going to change my name regardless. 

I don't understand women who attack other ladies who decide to change their names. Live and let live. 

BroncoInNC

I was perfectly happy with my maiden name, but it was important to husband that I change it, so it was important to me. I never thought twice about it. His dad died when he was young and he's the last man in the family, so I'm happy to carry on the family name with him. There are plenty of men in my family to carry on my maiden name. To each their own, however! I did tell Husband that I was keeping his name, Heaven forbid anything happen, because changing it on everything has been a royal pain!

JrsyLwyr

I did not change my name, I had never planned to when I married and DH didn't care.

schuette2

I did because my father's family is whacked out, and I wanted to get away from that - one way was a name change. I like the last name, and it's tradition.

WendyGR

first marriage I hyphenated. Divorced, changed it back to my maiden, then married DH and for some reason I wanted to change my name. I honestly don't know why the difference. On the internet and professionally I use my maiden as a middle name just because there are a bajillion people out there with my first name and last name.

msdani12

I did change my last name - and surprisingly it was very emotional for me! 

I am happy that I did - I love my new last name (:

meg1620

I changed it with social security, but still haven't had to renew my license so I haven't gotten around to that yet.

CamiSelene

I'm in Canada as well, so I assumed my husband's last name but didn't legally change it because I didn't want my birth certificate to change. MIL wanted me to keep my maiden name to "maintain my independence as a woman" (even though, she herself assumed the family surname.... she's kind of hypocritical like that) but as much as I loved my famous last name, I wanted to have the same surname as my husband and future children and there was no way I would change my middle name to my maiden name because my parents thoughtfully picked that name for me (my father's sister's name... she died at 3 months) and I wouldn't feel right changing it.

maggieevans1

I didn't change my name for about 9 months after we got married because we got stationed in rural Alaska and had to move soon after the wedding, so I just waited until I return home for a visit to go through the name change process. I can definitely say that as a military wife it is more convenient to have my spouse's last name. Like the other military commenter above, I also changed my middle name to my maiden name. I like having my husband's last name, even if it was a big switch and I now have to spell it out for everyone! :P

SheMarie82

At this point, I am not legally able to do so, since Michigan does not recognize our union.  As soon as we are able, I will be changing my name, I cannot wait!  I have had a hyphenated name since birth, so bring on the single last name!