Changing your last name

[MyHindiHeart]

I took my husband's given name. Yeah, GIVEN name!

There are several ways of naming a married girl in India. One of the ways is like this: given name + husband’s given name + caste. There is no provision for a maiden name. But of course this is entirely for Indian nationals. My personal records would still bear my maiden name together with my husband's first name and the caste which he belongs to. So my complete married name is given name+maiden name+husband's given name+caste. It's very long. So for informal gatherings, casual meetings and web presence, I am using my nickname+caste. Short and simple!

Not unusual from what I know. I also know that some parts of India, brides are given a new name by the family. Since I'm American, I'm really not sure what will happen when me marry, but I'll be taking his last name. His family likes to call me "Cristy" as a nickname to Crystal, so that's kinda cute. I can accept that.

[MyHindiHeart]

I will be changing my last name to his last name ♥ Which actually sounds French when you speak it, but it's Indian.
I like my last name, but for me it means something special to take on his last name. ♥ I could never hyphenate or keep my name. It's purely personal though.

[VeraRyan]

I'd change my last name but maybe I can keep mine too

[Miasmata]

The hassle of changing all important legal things is definitely a factor. I wouldn't consider changing my name if I still had important legal things going on that would be put on hold or complicated by the new name.

It also depends on the last name. His last name sounds kinda odd when you pronounce it German instead of English, but with my first name not being English nobody would know that the last name isn't German. It would just sound weird, and constantly correcting people is also not nice. No idea how I would go about that.

[Hollandia]

It all depends on what happens with my business. I have to sign my name on so many change forms and possibly risk revalidation requests for 'change of ownership", all the documents and vendors and doctors, I think if the business is still up and running I won't change my name. If it is not, then I would love to take his name.

I also thought about going with an alias for personal versus business life, but really I don't he will mind either way.

[Dziubka]

I think all the countries with lax name laws are weird
Probably because ours are very strict and we can't just randomly add or combine names or make names "middle names".
We have first names and last names.
You can't really change your first name just because you want to. There are only a few very exceptional situations that allow you to change your first name(s).

And then we have last names, which you can't change either.
Unless you get married, in which case both people can chose one name. Or one of them can hyphenate.


I wish we could both hyphenate and use my name in my country and his name in his *sigh*
For the time being we both kept our names.

[differentcountries]

I have kept both my last names, from my mother and father.

My husband after we married took my middle name, which is my mother's last name, from the farm where my maternal grandfather grew up. It is quite a rare name, the spelling of it anyway. My husband's last name is very common and I don't accociate it with him much, we have several friends with the same last name. I think his name is prettier now, and three names like mine. My brother in law also took me and my sister's middle name, and she took his last name so they both have the same last names. I think just by marriage my mother's last name is starting to gain some fame! Not hyphened, though. It is not usual to hyphen names here, people just keep adding names LOL.

I used to never think I would take someone's last name, my mom did not when she married. Though, since I can't marry SO it would perhaps be nice to take his name, to belong to him somehow. If I did, I would keep my original names as well.

[kittyxuchiha11]

She's taking my last name when the time comes because she refers it to hers and people can actually pronounce mine lol :3

[Kinderkimber]

I am definitely ready to change my last name when we get married. I love the idea of being called by his name. It's just something of his I can have every day even though we are so far apart.

[TaraMarie]

Yep. Is there anything else? Not on L I, for sure! We've cornered the market. So funny. Where I live now NOBODY is Jewish (or Catholic, for that matter).... Nobody knows what a knish or matzoh ball is! Boy. Are they missing out!

[CynicalQuixotic]

Nope...we both grew up on Long Island, and he is still here. Majority Irish or Italian. Go figure why people can't spell it or pronounce it.

And Jewish. Don't forget us, we basically own Nassau County.

[TaraMarie]

Nope...we both grew up on Long Island, and he is still here. Majority Irish or Italian. Go figure why people can't spell it or pronounce it.

[CynicalQuixotic]

I never took my husbands last name. But used it for school and things with the kids. I would like to take my SO's last name (although he doesn't care if I do...his ex wife actually kept HER FIRST HUSBANDS last name, and she hyphenated it with his). I will probably still use my ex husbands last name with anything pertaining to my children, use my SO's name socially, and keep my maiden name. My ex husbands last name is Harvie, my last name is Henry, and my SOs last name is Ciccone. None of those hyphen well..... Lol. FYI, I never took my husbands last name legally because it is not the common spelling and always had to be corrected. Nobody can properly pronounce or spell my SOs last name. Mine is the easiest!!

I guess your SO grew up in one of the non-Italian parts of Long Island?

[TaraMarie]

I never took my husbands last name. But used it for school and things with the kids. I would like to take my SO's last name (although he doesn't care if I do...his ex wife actually kept HER FIRST HUSBANDS last name, and she hyphenated it with his). I will probably still use my ex husbands last name with anything pertaining to my children, use my SO's name socially, and keep my maiden name. My ex husbands last name is Harvie, my last name is Henry, and my SOs last name is Ciccone. None of those hyphen well..... Lol. FYI, I never took my husbands last name legally because it is not the common spelling and always had to be corrected. Nobody can properly pronounce or spell my SOs last name. Mine is the easiest!!

[Sanja]

We ended up having this conversation tonight. He says that it is up to me to make that decision. My last name isn't that common and my family doesn't have any boys, so I thought I'd want to keep it. When my sister got married, she decided to hyphenate it. I'm not sure what I will end up doing when the time comes.