Are you changing?

Getting2Vowels

Curious how many of you ladies are going to change your last names.
I have an unpronounceable last name and have grown to like everyone butcher it at every attempt. Its often quite comical.
My new last name will be as easy as the Smiths and Jones of the world but I'm not completely sure if I want to hyphenate or change it all.
Part of me feels that I'll be letting go of who I am...Im 100% Polish and I actually like when people ask me questions and say "oh my family member was" or "teach me something".... The other part of me wants to wear my new last name with pride and enjoy the new chapter in my life.

What are you all doing?

Knottie1450123632

i have a pain in ass last name as well.  im going to be a simple name and soooooo happy to lose my last name for the mispronounciation and for another personal reason

keyaira04

I am changing my last name, but my maiden name will be my second middle name.  I refuse to drop any of my names. 

Gabrielle76

I have a really unique last name, there are like, 50 people in the united states with our last name, and I've always really liked it. FI's last name is one of the most common last names in America.  It kind of pains me to change it, but I do want to.  I just always assumed that I would, and I'm sticking with that plan. 

CleverThought

I'm changing. I didn't want to... Dr. CleverThought sounds better than Dr. CT's FI, but FI is adamant about traditon, so I'm rolling with it. Plus, keeping my last name for a professional title is kinda shallow, I have not real "connection" to my last name anyways. I'll insist on being called Dr. Awesome anyways

kay136

This may sound weird but I really didn't care either way. FI really wanted me to change it. I actually told him for months I didn't want to because it bugged him and he never gets mad at anything. I had to push the buttons that I could! haha. I think it will be really weird to have a different last name seeing as I have had this one for so long but I also am excited about having his last name. I'd be fine either way but I'm going to change it because it's important to him and I'm impartial.
However, I REFUSE to change the way I sign my initials. I have this great little way I sign KS so I don't want to have to figure out a way to sign KF in a good way. FI tells me i'm not allowed to do that and I always say "I do what I want" hahaha

Belle0720

I'm Polish too and I love my last name. I have 3 older brothers, a younger sister, and my mom is really involved in the community-I always love when I meet people and they know my mom or siblings(which happens a lot!). People have called me by my last name or 'Little K' my whole life so I just can't imagine losing it! On top of that, I really don't like my fiance's last name at all lol. It's very italian, but not one of the good ones! When I hear 'Mrs. F' it just makes me think of his mom, sooo not me!

I've told him that I'm not taking his name and he seemed think it was kind of weird but he also seemed to understand. When it comes down to it, if he really wanted me to hyphenate I would, but I'd rather not have such a long last name!

Also, I always make our reservations for hotels and I totally get a kick out of when they call us Mr. and Mrs. K :-)

NateandJustine

I am changing my last name. I've always been excited to get married and take my husband's name. I feel bad for my dad though, because he had three girls and our last name will die off.

Getting2Vowels

In Response to Re:Are you changing?:[QUOTE]I am changing my last name. I've always been excited to get married and take my husband's name. I feel bad for my dad though, because he had three girls and our last name will die off. Posted by NateandJustine[/QUOTE]
Any cousins?

AmJam04

I'm changing it. My last name is ridiculous as it is right now and there's no way I'm hyphenating, so Mrs. G will be my new last name! (which is funny since my name right now is also Ms. G.... I won't have to change too much!)

NateandJustine

Yeah, all girls and the one boy is my aunt's son who got married and took her husband's last name. I don't think my dad is that upset about it. He knew it was coming

emineminem

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2013-weddings_are-you-changing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a322ad2c-25cd-4d52-b123-096e1e4ecda5Discussion:1a84aee6-3c5e-44a3-ba00-bb89e97428a7Post:dac48876-cfa8-49d1-ba4b-5a6083e5959e">Re: Are you changing?</a>:
[QUOTE]I am changing my last name, but my maiden name will be my second middle name.   I refuse to drop any of my names. 
Posted by keyaira04[/QUOTE]

Ditto! Although it is kind of a mouthful to have FOUR names, my current middle name is my mom's maiden name, and I know she would be crushed if I dropped it (because I asked her;) so I'll be First Name, Mom's Maiden, Dad's Name, FI's Name. My initials will be MASH! haha. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" />

Chels&Jimmy

I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. I have always felt conflicted on this issue. I want to keep my last name and take FI's, but I don't like the idea of hyphenating. Ideally I would like to have my first name, middle name, maiden name, Fi's last name, but I have heard that California won't allow me to do this via marriage (i.e. I would need to go before a judge and request a name change).

Beads921

I have nooo idea what I'm going to do! FI isn't helping either, he doesn't care, and has offered to change his own name. Blah.

I've been Beads MaidenName my whole life. If me and all my sisters change our names (and give our kids our married names), it means the end of the MaidenName family name. At the same time, I want to be a family with FI, and having the same last name is part of that. Soo...ya. Luckily, I have 9 months to decide. 

Dani&Dennis

I am changing my last name. It means a lot to my FI and I like the idea of being connected to him with our name :-)

Dani&Dennis

I am changing my last name. It means a lot to my FI and I like the idea of being connected to him with our name :-)

Chels&Jimmy

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2013-weddings_are-you-changing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a322ad2c-25cd-4d52-b123-096e1e4ecda5Discussion:1a84aee6-3c5e-44a3-ba00-bb89e97428a7Post:a7c21eec-1f09-4d74-9a4b-6e461923f1d6">Re: Are you changing?</a>:
[QUOTE]If me and all my sisters change our names (and give our kids our married names), it means the end of the MaidenName family name. At the same time, I want to be a family with FI, and having the same last name is part of that. Soo...ya. Luckily, I have 9 months to decide. 
Posted by Beads921[/QUOTE]

This exactly!

Dani&Dennis

I am changing my last name. It means a lot to my FI and I like the idea of being connected to him with our name :-)

Dani&Dennis

I am changing my last name. It means a lot to my FI and I like the idea of being connected to him with our name :-)

WalkersFurMama

I'm thinking of keeping my maiden name as a second middle name as well. My dad and his brother both had girls and no boys so when they pass so will our family name. I also plan on naming our first son after my dad with his middle name as my maiden name. So it would be - Dad Maiden Married, he and I would share a middle name which I kind of like. 

WalkersFurMama

Oh. . . but my name change is definitely a "downgrade". My maiden name is simple, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and no one ever screws it up. My married name is polish and has far too many consonants and not enough vowels, no one ever pronounces it correctly and forget having them spell it right. Given that I'm a teacher and get called by my last name more often than my first, I'll probably forever be "Mrs. R".

Chels&Jimmy

Walkers, I like your idea of giving your son your maiden name as his middle name. I might suggest that to FI. We are planning on giving our kids middle names that come from my family, since they will be taking his last name. 

Last night I did a little bit of online research and discovered that the procedure for changing your name in California is really easy. I will have to petition a court to do so, and it could take up to 4 months, but I'm okay with that... I'm an attorney so I'm used to petitioning a court and then waiting for ages. Hehe. So I'm pretty excited - I think I will try to add my maiden name as a second middle name and take my FI's last name.  

It's funny - FI and I both have family names that people find difficult to pronounce and/or spell. Mine is Japanese and his is Dutch, and if you pause to look at the name and spell it out phonetically they are both really easy. Yet somehow we both get our last names butchered all the time. So I guess my desire to take on a name that is easier to pronounce, will not happen. LOL. 

garbasaurus

When I was younger, I wanted to change my name so badly.  Now I'm so used to my maiden name that I don't want to change.  My fiance wants me to take his last name but the problem is.. his brother married a woman with the same first name as mine.  She took the last name 5 years ago.  I'm already First Name #2.  I'd rather not be First AND Last Name #2.  So I'm hypehnating.

shilotony2012

Well, since this will be my 3rd marriage I know exactly what I want to do. I will hyphenate.

My first marriage I took his name and got rid of my maiden. i missed it so much. I am Puerto Rican and it told people who I was. So, when we divorced I hyphenated so I would have part of the same name as our kids. I vowed then and there I would never get rid of my maiden name. Second marriage I hyphenated even though I didnt want to. i hated his last name, but he was a country boy and his family was very old fashioned. I jokingly told his sister one day that I wasnt sure if I wanted to change my name again. She told me it was like a slap in the face that I would even consider not taking it. So I did.

This time I have told FI that I will hyphenate. plus, I am into my career and I am known as Ms so and so and I dont want to change that. again, its my heritage. FI has even offered to change his last name to mine!! Hes such a sweety!

emineminem

In Response to Re:Are you changing?:[QUOTE]I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. I have always felt conflicted on this issue. I want to keep my last name and take FI's, but I don't like the idea of hyphenating. Ideally I would like to have my first name, middle name, maiden name, Fi's last name, but I have heard that California won't allow me to do this via marriage i.e. I would need to go before a judge and request a name change. Posted by ChelsJimmy[/QUOTE]

Really!? This is what I want to do, and I'm in California too!! Where have you heard this? I wonder how the procedure will be different...

emmyroo

I'm taking FI's last name and moving my maiden name to a 2nd middle name.  I love my last name, mostly because of who it connects me to.  I also love my middle name b/c it is after my godmother/favorite aunt, so I could never replace it and just have my maiden name be my middle name.  My maiden name is a very simple, common Norwegian last name and FI's is  very long, uncommon, and Greek!  FMIL once told me not to take his name b/c it will make it so much more difficult with spelling and pronunciation.  I was put off by that - mostly b/c I don't like being told what to do!  Especially with such a personal decision!  If I want to do something, I'm going to do it!

trent13

My FI really wants me to take his last name and that was always the one thing I was looking forward to when I was little.... But my FI's last name is Gross literally. My name will be Jessica Gross and of course I'm going to do it because it means so much to him.

Chels&Jimmy

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2013-weddings_are-you-changing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a322ad2c-25cd-4d52-b123-096e1e4ecda5Discussion:1a84aee6-3c5e-44a3-ba00-bb89e97428a7Post:2de1e252-1e7d-4924-8a22-75dfca41b68e">Re:Are you changing?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re:Are you changing?: Really!? This is what I want to do, and I'm in California too!! Where have you heard this? I wonder how the procedure will be different...
Posted by missquela[/QUOTE]

Some of the girls on my local board were discussing it a few months back. I have looked into it briefly, and it looks like I will need to go before a judge to get my name changed... but I am going to do some more research to confirm. Either way, you and I are in different counties, so I would check out the rules for your county.