Getting married- ? do I change my name

[Tri Girl]

I changed my name. Never thought anything of it. Plus- I was changing my name from a really confusing German/American hybrid name to a generic name (Brown). I never have to spell it, which is so nice. When my dad died, I kind of wished I'd kept it, but my brother has a son, so the name will go on.

[bluebug32]

I'm getting married next year and have been debating this too. For starters, his names is a little nicer sounding than mine. But I'm a writer, so I would definitely keep my maiden-birth name for work or freelance. In the end, I think my name will become my middle name and I'll take his last name. Or I'll just put this whole thing off for as long as I can...

[BikeDutchess]

I kept my birth name. Both my first and last names are unusual and I didn't want to give up part of it (even though my first name and my DH's last name would have sounded pretty good together too). Both last names are unusual enough that I would have had to spell either one for people frequently, so that wasn't a deciding factor. Initially we also worked for the same company and I felt it was important to keep my own professional identity.

It took my MIL the longest to accept it. When I got my green card and proudly showed it off, she asked when they would put "my real name" on it! Luckily my DH's sister also kept her birth name when she married and I wasn't the odd one out anymore.

Once we had kids we did have to make a choice - we didn't want to saddle them with hyphens. We chose his last name for both kids. Our oldest has my last name as a middle name. We haven't really had issues with the kids - nowadays there are so many blended families that introducing myself as "Mrs Mylastname, XX Hislastname's mom" doesn't cause anyone to skip a beat. I do carry mini birth certificates (showing both of our names) in my wallet just in case.

[smurfalicious]

I'm getting married next year and have been debating this too. For starters, his names is a little nicer sounding than mine. But I'm a writer, so I would definitely keep my maiden-birth name for work or freelance. In the end, I think my name will become my middle name and I'll take his last name. Or I'll just put this whole thing off for as long as I can...

Ya know I thought about this too because of my photography, but I was so actively actively involved in the sport I was shooting I didn't figure it mattered much. I'd say unless you have stuff published already, and then to what degree, it can't hurt.

I was going to take my ex's last name, and while I was at it hyphenate in my mom's maiden name. I haven't spoken to my dad in 8 years and I HATE having his last name so it was a welcome idea.