I HATED my name growing up! Hated it!! 28 years of being teased to high heaven because of my last name made me not as appreciative of the symbolism as I may have been. So I was thrilled to be able to change my name to my first husband's last name. I love it so much (made me sound like a character in a book), I kept it even after the divorce because my daughter has the same last name, and I did not want to go back to my birth name. When I got married again, I kept my name for a while - and actually kept that name, but used my new husband's last name, too.

Grog is correct - you can use any name you want as long as do not use a name in an attempt to defraud. I have many friends who use both their birth and married names. It's only when legally signing documents that you really need to make sure you are using your legal name (of which you only have one). I ended up changing my name (5 years into my marriage) when my DH got airline tickets to Hawaii with me as my first name, his last name. To change the name of the ticket was harder than changing my name, believe it or not, and it didn't really matter to me. My name is now officially My first name, my 1st husband's last name and my 2nd husband's last name. As my birth last name is fairly common, my parents were not upset.