Changing your last name; thoughts?

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Off topic - do I have a chance to change my name at citizenship time? I really am liking that idea of adding my maiden name as a 2nd middle name.

But most forms only give you one spot for middle name - where would one put it?

[LiLMermaid 2]

Oh I forgot to mention...even though the kids will have the ex's last name...I'm taking my new husbands last name. I've had 5 years to think about it and I've come to the conclusion that even though he has said that its not necessary...... I figure at this point me not having the same name as the kids won't be a huge deal. I'll just spend alot of time correcting teachers etc. I had thought I would keep it till the kids were alot older (or gone lol) but it'll be a HUGE pain in the butt to change it later in the US and a lot easier to change it right after the wedding.

[Holliday 4]

Off topic - do I have a chance to change my name at citizenship time? I really am liking that idea of adding my maiden name as a 2nd middle name.

But most forms only give you one spot for middle name - where would one put it?

I don't know about the Citizenship forms, but for everything I had to send in to NVC and USCIS for the CR-1 process, I just filled them all in by hand instead of typing, and I just squished both names onto the line for "middle name". There wasn't enough room for both names when I typed them. Heh.

As for initials, I will say I'm sad that I went from EH (perfectly Canadian!) to EW. Blah.

[DeadPoolX 9]

My wife was hesitant to change her last name. She liked her name, but also wanted to incorporate mine as well. She didn't see one surname as being more important than the other. So she hyphenated it.

One thing I do need to caution about hyphenated surnames is that sometimes organizations have difficulty with it. For instance, the airline industry goes berserk when they see a hyphenated name. It's not that the airlines have a real problem with it, but their computer systems are old and it costs too much to upgrade them.

Most people and places don't have a problem with it. Just be prepared for a lot of people to drop your maiden name in favor of your married name or think that your maiden name is your middle name.