I am struggling with the name I should take after I wed. I was married to a man for 18 yrs. who passed on. We have 1 child together who is now 15. My fiance is also a widower and has one child who is an adult.
In my 1st marriage I hyphenated my name, "Cathy Smith-Jones*". I would love to keep my maiden name as I am proud of my birth name, and take on my fiancee's last name and be "Cathy Smith-Davis*".
However, here are my areas of concern:
a. My daughter still has her fathers last name, Jones. So when she has school functions she will be Janie Jones and her Mother, Cathy Davis. It really makes me feel like everyone is thinking, "oh she must be divorced" (not that I'm slamming those who are, it's just not the situation I've struggled through).
b. I have thought about hyphenating it with her last name and my new name into "Cathy Jones-Davis". That incorporates her name and mine. However, I REALLY want to leave his name behind as it still is a sad memory. And my last name is hard to pronounce, so leaving it behind would be nice.
c. Whatever I have done on my SS card is what I'd like to actually use, even though I am aware I don't have to.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
*names are artificial.