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Name change timing

ChloeaghChloeagh member
First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
in Students
So, this won't affect me for quite some time, but FI and I were talking and I'd like to hear some opinions. Right now, we are going to get married in the spring during my first year of pharmacy school (unless I don't get in, but then I wouldn't have this problem). FI wants me to change my name right away, and while that'd be nice, I was thinking it might be easier to wait 2 months until summer when I'll have plenty of time for the paperwork. I also thought it would be easier to change school information and names when I am not in the middle of a class. Now I'm thinking that either way, it will be a lot of work to change my name while I'm in school, but I'm really married (no pun intended) to our planned wedding date and besides I don't think we could fesibly get married right after undergrad graduation.

So I'm just wondering what other student's opinions are on when to get names changed and the difficulty of doing it while in school.

ETA: Before anyone tells me that it's too far out for me to be thinking about this, I'm a planner and it's finals week. Humor me.
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Re: Name change timing

  • Annas2013Annas2013 member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    Honestly?  I don't think it would be too hard to change your name.  Yes the paperwork would be frustrating since you have so much else to do, but it shouldn't be that difficult.  Don't worry about it being too far out.  I'm a planner too and finals week left me with too much time on my hands.
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  • expats14expats14
    First Comment

    Cheers to the finals week planning.  I got more done that week than any other time.

    FWIW, I know that it took one of my classmates and the administration some time to get all of the paperwork in order, so she ended up going by both names for the duration of the semester.  We use exam numbers, so it didn't cause any problems with her grades.  She was also a very good sport about responding to whichever name people used.  :)

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  • sophie41412sophie41412
    First Comment
    I changed my name in the middle of a semester.  It didn't require much paperwork.  I just went to the registrar's office and showed them my marriage license.  It took 5 minutes at the most.

    I changed my name in the middle of the semester because I was graduating and I wanted my diploma to have my married name.  That's another thing to think about.
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    First Comment
    edited May 2012
    I'm holding off on changing my name for a while, probably 6 months to a year, after the wedding because FI and I live internationally and it would mess with visas. Legally I'll still be going by my maiden name, but everything else will have my married name.

    I guess my advice would be don't fret about it too much, it's not like there's a statute of limitations on changing your name (:
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  • ChloeaghChloeagh member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    Thanks everyone. FI was freaking out, "OMG you won't be able to change your name and it will be expensive and it will be horrible if you wait!" And I was like, "Chill. We'll still have a marriage license 2 months after we get married. It will be fine."
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  • becky659becky659 member
    First Comment
    I'm not even thinking about name changes until the month following the wedding... I'm starting two summer classes tomorrow and they're going to be miserable- I can't even think about getting together all the paperwork to change my name! 
    I'm going to be in schools this fall, though, so I want to get it done before I go back to avoid confusion.
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  • laughingalot1618laughingalot1618 member
    First Comment
    edited May 2012

    I understand your issue, I had to think about something similar.  I graduated 2 months before our wedding and I start student teaching the week after we get back from our honeymoon.  I have been debating holding off on changing my name so that I would have more time to get used to it and not have to worry about a bunch of paperwork the week before I student teach.  I found out that there really isn't that much paperwork and that you can get it done in a couple days if you really need to.

    And I also got bored during finals week and got a ton of stuff done, it makes these last couple of months easier to deal with.

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