Keeping last name as middle name for professional purposes

[vanee 13]

I may have read about this particular "married last name" question here before, but I can't find the discussion, and I don't remember the details.

I'll be joining my fiance in the US and getting married very soon. I want to keep my current last name for professional purposes and take his name legally for all other purposes. I do not want a hyphenated last name. I could make my current last name my second middle name so that it would still be one of my legal names, like this:

Current name: Mary Jill Smith

Married name: Mary Jill Smith Jones (with "Jill" and "Smith" both being middle names)

I would use "Mary Smith" for professional purposes (I'm self-employed) and "Mary Jones" for everything else.

Possible problems:

1. My bank in Canada has an "a.k.a." option where they can list a second last name that you go by, but the bank that I have an account with in the US doesn't. When I called them to ask how this would work, I was told that I could keep my existing account under my current last name even when married and set up an individual account or a joint account with my to-be-husband in my married name. (I'm going to call back to make sure the answer is the same when I ask 2 different people.) Continuing the accounts like this could be a problem if we ever change banks after we're married.

2. When people ask what my middle name is, do I answer, "Jill," "Smith," or "Jill and Smith"? I'm thinking that I'll answer "Jill" except when the question is for legal purposes.

I'd like to hear what other women did who wanted to keep their last name for some purposes but take their husband's last name legally for other purposes and who didn't want a hyphenated last name.

[Carolyn 1]

I took my husband's last name and kept my former last name as my middle name. I got rid of my former middle name.

I like my new name, but it has been a real pain in the rear--when I have changed my name they invariably got it wrong (i.e. didn't change the old middle name). So I've had to do the name change twice on many things (credit cards, voter registration, property taxes, etc.).

I think having 4 names would be even more confusing and open to error, but it's your name, so you can decide.

Best of luck!

Carolyn

[one...two...tree 2,762]

My wife made her last name her new middle name. It was a bit unnerving because when she went to her Biometrics appointment, the woman there told her she couldn't change her middle name until after she received her Green Card!!! We were miffed because our initial AOS application, that is how we filed it. Well, fortunately, that lady didn't know what the hell she was talking about. It is customary and acceptable for many women to keep their maiden name as their last name. My wife's Green Card displays the name exactly the way we filed for it.

[iya 0]

My wife made her last name her new middle name. It was a bit unnerving because when she went to her Biometrics appointment, the woman there told her she couldn't change her middle name until after she received her Green Card!!! We were miffed because our initial AOS application, that is how we filed it. Well, fortunately, that lady didn't know what the hell she was talking about. It is customary and acceptable for many women to keep their maiden name as their last name. My wife's Green Card displays the name exactly the way we filed for it.

I tried to do the same - last name into middle name, new last name being husband's name. I thought it was all good, but at the AOS interview, our officer said I can't change my middle name because by marriage, only the last name can be changed. So.. I don't know what's going to happen to all the other paperwork I'd filed with my former last name as my middle name... Like SSN, and bank papers, and job applications...

[TheATeam 0]

Hmmm...interesting. I worked for the DMV, as it's known in the States, up here in Canada for awhile where we processed a lot of different kind of name changes. According to Alberta law anyway, we couldn't add the maiden name to the middle name. That constituted a legal name change which was much more expensive and also changed the name on the birth certificate so it was First Name, Middle Name + Maiden Name, Maiden Name. A lot of women didn't want that and so we would always just put two last names, without the hyphen specifically. I know a lot of women who choose to go by one or the other depending on if they're at work or not.

I have no idea how it works in the States, but I know that's how it works in Alberta. It's interesting to me to see all the different ways that the same kind of thing works..in different countries.

[TinTin and Samby 11]

This is very interesting....I thought it was a pretty routine and common practice for woman to make their maiden name their new middle name and take their husband's name as their new last name. I think I will make a poll for this....

[~Nini~ 2]

When I got my marriage license at our county courthouse, the lady told me that any name changes could be made with the marriage license. I'll probably ask them again when I go back to get certified copies, but I'm planning on just using my maiden name as my new middle name (having not had one before) and taking my husband's last name. Probably easier than having two unhyphenated last names...