Name changes...why is this such a hard decision?

[Jgui]

My finance and I talked about the whole last name thing also we he wants me to take his last name. Now that doesn't mean i have to drop my last name completely, he is okay with me hyphenating; which is something i've though of as well. I love my family name and the thoughts of dropping it just breaks me... but i don't really like the sounds of our 2 last names together when spoken..LOL!

[Jgui]

I still haven't made a decision on that. I'm thinking hyphenating the names would be my best option (though it's a bit awkward to pronounce). Honestly I have as many valid reason to want to change my name than to keep my own.

i hear you on this one! im feeling the same way...

[floridaellen]

I plan on being traditional and taking my husband's name. I have always thought about hyphenating but those of you who are friends with me on Facebook would most likely agree that it would look/sound weird. I already have punctuation in my last name - I don't need more haha. I do plan on making my maiden name my middle name.

My brother has my last name and can carry on the family line. I also have a lot of male cousins that share my last name so I'm not worried.

[Verojoon]

If I married my SO, I would take his last name. This is funny because I never changed my name with my ex-husband!

People seem to have a lot of difficulty pronouncing both my first and last name, and SO's last name is a lot easier... I also just like the idea of having that connection. My kids have their dad's last name, so if I was to keep my last name if we were to get married, then we would have 3 different last names in the household... that seems a bit much...

[Nikki Rush]

My girlfriend and I are both completely perplexed as to what to do when that time comes; we're a same-sex couple and neither one of us likes our last name very much, but at the same time I don't like the idea of changing mine. It's part of my identity, even if it does sound ridiculous and make people laugh at me. We could hyphenate, I suppose, but either way that would sound strange, as hers is quintessentially American and mine is Polish and weird. Either way, we have time to discuss it before getting married.

[squeeker]

I'm almost completely positive I'm going to take his last name. I love my family, but I also like the traditional idea of taking the husband's last name, and I think it brings unity and provides stability to a family. I like his last name a lot, plus my initials would be HH! I have a few male cousins who will carry on the family name so I don't have to worry about that either. Plus it's tradition to take the husband's name, so I don't have to worry about my family feeling bad for me doing it because they are mostly all pretty traditional/conservative when it comes to these things. I love it when my SO calls me "Mrs. His-last-name." <3

[TwoThree]

My decision has been finally made and I will have both our names hyphenated. I'll deal with it

[faith_patience_believe]

I will absolutely 100% take my husband's last name. I've known this all my life. I'm very traditional and cant wait to have the same name as the man I spend the rest of my life with.

[Riyko]

When i get married in the future i'm going to hyphenate my last name, it's something I've always wanted to do and the guy I marry will have to accept that. One of my reasons for it is god forbid i ever get divorced it'd make things a lot easier when it comes to changing things, but the other reason is i love my last name and i don't want to get rid of it.

[Malaga]

I always planned to take my husband's last name as it's one of the traditions that I liked. But my full first name is old fashioned and elaborate, and so is his last name. I'll appear like a Jane Austen character on paper (but a Bridget Jones in person).

[Karura]

Gosh, my full name is so long already with the amount of middle names I have... I would prefer to hyphenate but there's no such thing in my culture and, from what I know, neither does it happen where my SO comes from. My options are to either add his name to my already long full name or keep it as it is. I used to dislike my last name because it's the most common last name in Portugal so the changes of meeting a portuguese person with my last name is pretty high and there are countless of women with the same first name and last name as me (so searching for me in facebook is almost impossible lol). However I've grown attached to it and I like how it sounds with my first name. Still, I like the tradition of having the husband's last name, but what makes me hesitate most is the fact that I don't really like how it sounds with my first name (for now at least) and it has the same initial as my first name. But naming our children is going to be confusing for me because for my SO they place first the father's last name then the mothers, and for me first the mother's and then the fathers (my SO's last name is supposed to be his father's or so he says, even though is not the last one in the full name, so isn't it more logical that the father's last name comes in last? =S)

[MarineGirlfriend23]

I plan on taking my husband's last name. I am not very traditional in many respects (I don't really want a wedding, the courthouse will do just nicely) taking my husband's last name has always been a desire of mine. Plus my loving boyfriend is more than excited about me taking it one day lol.

[MattDavies86]

Well, when we talk about it, planned to get married the second time she comes here for 6months (which will be 2nd half of next year 2014) but we always just say she her name with my last name, and I think she is happy with that and wants it which is fine by me

[SeeRat]

I will absolutely 100% take my husband's last name. I've known this all my life. I'm very traditional and cant wait to have the same name as the man I spend the rest of my life with.

Same as mine views

[kteire]

I am torn I've never wanted to hyphenate, as mine and my SO's names would be long winded and hard to pronounce! But at the same time, I am a bit attached to my own name and don't know if I want to change it. At least my SO and I won't be getting married for a while so I can think long and hard about it.

I also can't pronounce his last name well... it's a french name and I have the WORST accent when speaking French