Changing your last name... did anyone read this?

Cdefran1

Hey everyone,
     I know changing your last name and using a hyphan has been a topic on the board before. I saw this article today and thought I'd share: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/hyphenated-married-name-fight-heats-up-on-facebook-2457045/
     I always thought I would hyphan my name too but my last name is 11 letters by it self! lol So, that would be one long last name! Being in the health field, I see alot of women hyphan their name when they get married. But now, I'm not so sure.... Hmmm....

jelybeancg

Thanks for posting. This has been a hot topic in our house this week. I am a "professional" and always wanted to keep my name. FI always knew this and never seemed to have a problem with it. All of a sudden this week it is bothering him and he is pressing hard for me to change my name. Half of my friends are appalled that I would not change my name. The other half are married and have not chenged their names. Hmmm, is right,

happywithhim715

My maiden name was 13 letters long and no one could pronouce it.... My married name, is 4 and everyone can say it... NO BRAINER!! Ha Ha

a.lemma4

I was just reading the comments under the article and it's amazing how angry some people get about the issue haha. It's just a NAME. Sheesh.

As for me, everyone calls me by my last name so I feel weird getting rid of it altogether.  I will take FI's last name and move my last name to my middle name.

Cdefran1

Jelybean - My mom actually kept her maiden name. They were married 25 years ago, so this wasnt the norm. No one challenged her on it, not even my dad, surprisingly. However, she ended up changing it later when she had problems at our school because her last name wasnt the same as ours... go figure! I think its alot more common for women to do this these days, esp. in certain fields where your already established with your maiden name.

Happywithim- LOL, I completely understand. But my last name is pretty and italian. His is short, rhymes with gulp and is german lol. We have briefly talked about the last name thing but I guess it wont be a serious talk until we actually get engaged.

Cdefran1

a.Lemma - My one friend who is a nurse practitioner did that! I think thats a great idea. When she signs scripts and stuff, she signs her whole name (middle included). Pretty neat idea.

jelybeancg

My friend is a teacher and one of her points was all the confusion that happens when kids and their parents don't have the same name.

RecoveringActor

Lemma--I have a friend who changed her name to her husband's name.  And we always called her by her last name.  And I told her when she got married that I refuse to call her Angela.  Ever.  I will only refer to her by her last name.

I like my last name.  It's fairly easy to pronounce.  About 15% of people pronounce Gzilla's last name correctly.  But, I'm still changing my last name.

paprika28

My last name is synonimous with a vehicle... and his is so much nicer. I'll probably end up being Mrs. paprika middlename maidenname hislastname. This way I can use both, or either. (bills, etc) I wish I had done that with my previous marriage so I didn't have to go through all this trouble of changing it back.

Jesster153

I didn't hyphenate because I went from a jewish sounding last name to a very jewish sounding last name (which is funny since I'm not jewish--my grandfather was and my DH is half) and my sister and I thought it sounded like a cheesy law office-- like those "have you been wronged- Call so and so' commercials hahaha  So I nixed that.

That and DH wanted me to take his so I did- no big deal. I'm still me and my family is still my family no matter what my last name is.

lemma- my friends call me by my last name (maiden) too-- and still do! they said it will never change 

a.lemma4

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-philadelphia_changing-last-name-did-anyone-read-this?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:105Discussion:53227d25-e934-44b6-a0d7-4397a4fcc187Post:8106dd2d-43f8-4e79-be27-f1b5bfbdf346">Re: Changing your last name... did anyone read this?</a>:
[QUOTE]<strong>a.Lemma - My one friend who is a nurse practitioner did that! I think thats a great idea. When she signs scripts and stuff, she signs her whole name (middle included). Pretty neat idea.
</strong>Posted by Cdefran1[/QUOTE]

Exactly this! When I sign things and on documents it will be first name, maiden name, FI's last name. But our kids will only have FI's last name. I just feel like this will work best for me.

RA - I think besides my immediate family and FI's parents, no one calls me by my first name. Not since I was about 12 haha. I just could never part with my last name completely!

Cdefran1

Yeah, I definitely like the idea of taking your maiden name as your middle name. Esp with kids. My signature would be then 24 letters and that's if I drop my middle name completely and just do first, my last, his last... haha Thank God its normal to have horrible hand writing in the health profession field, since I'm sure I'll be writing all that super sloppy lol!

Amerbutt81

I really wanted to hyphanate.  I really love my maiden name, and I think it kinda flows with my married name-- they both have a lot of N's

However, when I pitched the idea to JEGs he was a no-go.  His answer was "my children will have my last name" and no matter how many times I explained to him that they would have ONLY his last name, he was still against it.

nicole8586

I never debated I would switch. My maiden name is always pronounced and spelled wrong. PITA.

caraellen23

Over the years I had the internal debate about changing my name, hyphenating, using maiden name as middle name, etc.  I think a lot of it had to do with the last name of the guy I was with too.  I pretty much only dated jewish men, so I had some doozies.  Luckily, I like DH's last name and was happy to take it.  (I also never loved my maiden name...sorry dad).

After a lot of thought, I decided to drop my maiden name and keep my first and middle name.  My first and middle name were chosen to honor deceased relatives (grandfather and great aunt), so I didn't want to disrespect my great aunt's memory by dropping my middle name (which I happen to like anyway).  DH probably would have understood if I kept my maiden name or hyphenated, but he was really happy I chose to take his name.  He said it was an honor to have me take his name and it really meant a lot to him.  I  also think its easier with future kids. 

The only people who had any issue with it were my parents, and I'm not even sure how much of it was serious and how much was just messing with me.