Name Change After Marriage

[ELW 5]

I don’t want to change my name after marriage, and was wondering how many others out there on VJ kept their name or plan to. (Is it really so rare as I think?).

[bora bora 1]

I'm the USC and will change my name once I get married. It is something that I want to do.

I want the same surname as my (soon to be) husband, as the children we plan on having together, and I have no ties to my current last name. I do not have a relationship with my father and I believe part of my reasoning has to do with that.

But most importantly - I'm marrying the man of my dreams and want his last name

However, I do understand why some women do not want to change theirs. I am an independent woman and a professional with a degree with my (current) last name. Many women keep their last names for these reasons. I do not believe that keeping your last name means you love your husband less. It is a personal choice.

[Savanphil 3]

I couldn't wait to change my name .....

[JamalNTam 1]

But most importantly - I'm marrying the man of my dreams and want his last name

Me too!!!! and I'm going to be so proud to have the same name as him!

[SoL. 0]

I am keeping mine

[Len & How 0]

I'm the USC and will change my name once I get married. It is something that I want to do.

I want the same surname as my (soon to be) husband, as the children we plan on having together, and I have no ties to my current last name. I do not have a relationship with my father and I believe part of my reasoning has to do with that.

But most importantly - I'm marrying the man of my dreams and want his last name

However, I do understand why some women do not want to change theirs. I am an independent woman and a professional with a degree with my (current) last name. Many women keep their last names for these reasons. I do not believe that keeping your last name means you love your husband less. It is a personal choice.

I totally agree with you, Meredith, I also want to change my name after we get married. I can't wait to carry His last name, I want everybody to know we belong together! I'm already training my new signature No ties to my current last name as I also have a very cold relationship with my father...

Also, I'm hoping that a name without the Slavic "-ova" at the end can help me when job hunting. I heard that some companies are sorting out incoming resumes based on the persons names - I don't think it happens a lot, but I want to avoid such discrimination.

I can imagine situations, however, when a woman doesn't want to take her husband's last name. I don't think it matters, the most important thing is that the two people love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Len & How

[JimandSarha 0]

I'm the USC and will change my name once I get married. It is something that I want to do.

I want the same surname as my (soon to be) husband, as the children we plan on having together, and I have no ties to my current last name. I do not have a relationship with my father and I believe part of my reasoning has to do with that.

But most importantly - I'm marrying the man of my dreams and want his last name

However, I do understand why some women do not want to change theirs. I am an independent woman and a professional with a degree with my (current) last name. Many women keep their last names for these reasons. I do not believe that keeping your last name means you love your husband less. It is a personal choice.

I totally agree with you, Meredith, I also want to change my name after we get married. I can't wait to carry His last name, I want everybody to know we belong together! I'm already training my new signature No ties to my current last name as I also have a very cold relationship with my father...

Also, I'm hoping that a name without the Slavic "-ova" at the end can help me when job hunting. I heard that some companies are sorting out incoming resumes based on the persons names - I don't think it happens a lot, but I want to avoid such discrimination.

I can imagine situations, however, when a woman doesn't want to take her husband's last name. I don't think it matters, the most important thing is that the two people love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together.

I've already been told that in China, I am Jim Powell and she is Wang Jie. In America, she will be Sarha Wang and I will be Jim Wang. I think she means it...

Jim

[sereia 0]

i will definitely change my name! i can't wait to change it to something that fits me better. imho:D and be proud to show him how much i truly love him.

[Lou Lou 1]

I didn't change my name and never will. It seems to be very common for women to change their name here in the US. It's one thing that I am a little surprised about.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Yes, she did.

[Michaela_Hassan 1]

I was happy to change mine..since it was my ex's

[ELW 5]

No ties to my current last name as I also have a very cold relationship with my father...

Good point. I was daddy's little girl, he used to say I was his greatest achievement and now he's gone. Probably wanting to keep his name has something to do keeping him with me always. I miss him sooo much...

[Alex+R 0]

I never wanted to change my name, if and when I got married, mostly because my mom didn't and it never made sense to me. But another aspect is that changing my name would change my ethnic heritage completely, which would be really weird. Right now my last name is REALLY OBVIOUSLY Jewish, and if I changed it, it would suddenly be really obviously latin (or Portuguese to those who know the difference, which isn't many people). I feel like it would be taking away my own heritage and replacing it with my husbands or something. Dunno.

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Good luck on your immigration journeys. What an interesting message thread, indeed. In answer to the message thread, my response is:

As for my own situation, regarding the married last name, I am using that new married last name instead of my old maiden last name. I like my married last name, and I love my husband and feel that this is respectful for him and his family. I overall hated my maiden last name, which I had no connection with my former family (my ex-so-called family that have now pretty much disowned me), and growing up my former maiden last name caused a lot of confusion and I was made fun of quite a bit because of it.

Besides, why get rid of a good tradition of changing women's last names when they get married? It has worked for many years throughout history that women change their last names when they marry, so why shouldn't it work now? After all, by having the same last name, doesn't one feel more connected to their new married family too?

Ant

Edited March 5, 2007 by AntandD

[sparkofcreation 0]

I hyphenated my name for professional reasons, but I never liked my maiden name (hard to spell—or more precisely, easy to misspell) so I pretty much only go by G's last name. It's pretty common (but not *too* common) and sounds good with my first name (and in combination with my maiden name). But legally, my name is hyphenated.