Speaking of name changes....

KimNSandy

So Sandy and I are not legally married as of yet. We are as far as WE are concerned though...

 Anyway, we have talked a few times about this and still have it as an open question....the last name thing....

My name is very much "out there" already due to my working as a contractor. I am listed with many recruiting firms. So if I change my name now, I am afraid I will have to explain...repeatedly..who I am when I'm doing my job hunting.

So...what's your opinion on the last name thing...? Did you change yours? What do you think of us BOTH changing our last names to something we invent and do it legally? (We thought that option might be the most fun and representive of "us")

Thanks to all for your insights and thoughts on this topic!

Duchess1

We are planning on hyphenating our names. We haven't changed it legally because of cost, but hope to soon. For now we use it on non-legal documents, letters, holiday cards etc.

There is a nestie, Mrs. Bluemont, who did just what you are thining about. She and her wife picked a totally new name and made the change that way. I think she is very happy with her choice.

ssg73

we both kept our names.  I really like mine as does she.  We plan on having the kids have my name as there are no male children after my generation to keep the name going.  S may choose to take my name after we have kids just to keep from any confusion but who knows.  A teacher at my school hyphenated and his is Kane (his wife)- Matthews (his name) but the kids are Matthews and he goes by Mr Matthews.  That could be a possiblity.

Two*True

I took her last name.  It was my wedding gift to her.  I did this because:

1) I didn't want to hypenate

2) I wanted our future kids to have the same name as both parents

3) Her name means something to her

4) I always assumed I'd change mine.

ctbride08

it was a simple choice for us that I would take her name for the same exact reasons listed by Two...but this is one of those areas where you just have to do what feels best for you.

there is no right or wrong answer!

thiswillbe

We're both changing our names to have a shared hyphenated last name. I already have a hyphenated last name (my birth name), so I'm moving one of my names to be an additional middle name. (As an example, I'll go from being "Christine A. B-C" to "Christine A. B. E-C" and S will go from being "Sylvia D. E." to "Sylvia D. E-C".)

I am well-established professionally with my birth name, but I think transitioning to a different married name will get more difficult with time, so I may as well take the plunge and do it now. For a while, I'll try to have myself listed (e.g. in professional association listings) as C. B. E-C. so people see the name they expect along with my new married name. I suppose it helps that the "C" part is an unusual name, so I should still be relatively Googleable.

cymru

We are going to be hypenating eventually when we have the money to do it. It will run us around $400 a piece to do it through the courts. PITA big time. However, our baby will already have the name hypenated on the birth certificate since you can name your child whatever the heck you want. We use it anyway for anything not legal.

~Kennedy

mikenwillie

me and my boyfriend are  doing a handfasting on sept 19th 2009 ...  its not legal but im  changing my last name to his . its somehting i want to do for us .  its soemthingi can do that is legal and  it can say  hey we are one now and  that is that ...  BUT  we have friends  that have changed therelast name too . they didnt want to choose who did it so they both changed there name .  at the time they was driving down the road and seen the road sign and .... well thats there last name ...  its also the street  she ask her to be her wife ...

its a sweet thing to do  and you always have that memory .

hope you figure out what you want .

mike and willie in ohio

jayangel

I plan to change my last name to Jay's last name but keep my original last name as an additional middle name and she will take my last name as a second middle name as well. We didn't like the idea of hyphenating since our names sort of rhyme we thought it would sound like a Dr. Seuss character, but I want to keep my last name in some form. When we have children they will have her last name but mine as an additional middle as well.

bluedaisyus

we have no idea what we're doing. we like the idea of a single last name, but neither of us is willing to give ours up for a variety of reasons--and her italian name and my german name would sound like crap hyphenated.

my parents both changed their last name to something they made up. i actually have a different last name from them (my bio father's) so you would think i wouldn't be so attached to it. but i am.

Mrs._F

Keeping your name for professional reasons makes a lot of sense.  That could be one check on the pro list of Sandy taking your name - or maybe hyphenating legally, but just going by your original name for work.

C and I did the same thing as everyone here - went through the reasons to and not to do different things and chose what was left: I took her name

1. My last name was a very long Portuguese one that did not lend at all to hyphenation (it was 12 letters on its own!), and it made for quite the tongue twister with Cecilia (too many "s" sounds!), so hyphenation or her taking my name was out.

2. She was kind of open to creating a new last name (like maybe blending our two names into one), but I really wasn't keen on that idea.

3. We both really wanted a family name that we and our children would share.  Her taking my name was out, us creating a new one was out, and hyphenating was out.  That left me taking her name as an option, and I was really glad to do it.

For us, it was definitely the right decision.  Cecilia was thrilled when I offered, and we love being the F_____'s now   In some way, it also made me feel more connected to her family.  Good luck with your decision!

rikkiandjulie

We are combing w/o a hypen. We will be Julie and Rikki J..... space R....

However, my name is just their for Formality. We will only sign R...., and our children will only have R.....

2brides

We haven't changed our names and don't plan on it.  Thankfully, we both have really short last names so the kids are hyphenated.