Changing your last name

[efish1042]

I was adopted when I was 10 by my stepfather anyway, so changing last names is not a big deal to me. My first and middle name are, though. They stay. My current last name is long, Prussian and ends with 'trout' (hence the "fish" in 'efish1042'). So I wouldn't mind changing at all haha. However, my SO's last name is only 2 letters shorter than mine (just as long as my original last name), so it wouldn't be much shorter, but it would be less confusing for others.
If we get married, I'll most likely change my last name to his. I can't imagine my name hyphenated - my whole name would be 30 letters long, plus a hyphen!! O_O

[lucybelle]

I don't know... I guess names are an important part of my identity. I wouldn't want to have an ugly or very complicated last name and have people adress me by it. After all, if I have first name I don't like, I can ask my friends to call me something else or simply introduce myself by a name I chose. However (at least over here) you usually get adressed by your last name in official situations in which it would be veeery weird to go by a false name. I could hardly ask my lecturers, bank person or doctor to call me "Miss [made-up-lastname]" when all my documents are with my real last name.

And I'd like my family (that is my husband, our children and I) to have the same last name. It may be a silly, but I also think it shows commitment. For me, the name is party of my identity and by giving it up or sharing it with my boyfriend, we become part of the same idenity in a way. I mean obviously you can change your name back, once you get divorced, but I guess you'll never completely get rid of it again (My dad never changed his name back after my parents' divorce). I feel that I didn't do a good job of explaining that...
And seeing as I don't really want to give up my last name, I guess I have an interest in my boyfriend changing his last name. His mum was all for it Maybe she'll help me convince him.

Okay I'm jumping in here late but like I've said before I like the Hispanic way. Neither parent changes their name and kids take one last name of each parent. To me, it's a much better show of "family". That they are part of both families and not just the man side. Plus it's easier to trace lineage when last names are intact.

My mom never changed her name when she married and it actually makes me sad to think that perhaps people didn't see us as a "family" since I had a different last name. I never even thought about it when I was a kid. It was normal to me.

[lucybelle]

I like my current last name a lot more than my SO's. Well, actually, he has two last names, as is traditional in Peru, and in theory I should be taking the first of those (which is the one I don't like) and tacking my own last name on to that, but it clashes really badly with my name. I have a pretty English sounding name and his is Spanish-Chinese, and when you put them together, they just don't work well. I don't really think I'll change my name.

In social situations, however, I would looooooooooove to be addressed as "Mr. and Mrs. Chau." It's short and cute and it makes me feel like I"m his.

Another thing to consider... what name will our kids take?! I want them to take my last name, but he wants them to take his. I dunno.

I've never heard of women changing their names or adding names! Women keep their names, men keep theirs, kids get both-- First name Middle name Father's last name Mother's last name. And they go by First name Father's last name. Unlike in the states where we use the 2nd of the 2, Hispanics use the first. (this always gets me funny looks when I accidentally call roll using the 2nd last name instead of the first. Just habit!)

[Softy]

I'm a tad old fashion as well hehehe~!
So prolly I'd take his last name yes, if he doesn't mind of course :P
To me it would make it like more 'official', more traditional.
But this is if he wants to get married, we didn't talk about that subject yet it's too soon.
Hopefully one day

[lyonsgirl]

I'm definitely changing mine. I do love my last name, but my initials will be a palindrome when I change it. So, yea. That's reason enough for me, haha!

(But really I've always known I would change my last name to my future hubby's.)

[lala]

Manoek I think it sounds good

I always wanted to keep my last name cause I thought it would be mean that the guys keep theirs lol
If I ever marry my SO I think I would take his.. it sounds good and his family is a really nice one, so I won't have any problems with that..

[Manoek]

I Don't know.. How does that work? Do you 'take' someones name if you also keep your own?

Our last names don't really go together, but I never really thought about it.. Manoek Duindam Johnson

I'm gonna stare at it, say it outloud a couple of times, and see what I think about it then

[LotusWing]

I want to change my last name, but my mom is against it. Few days till the wedding, so I hope to solve this problem with my mom soon.
She's has that traditional thing inside her. Saying it's stupid to change someone elses last name. She prefer I change to her parents last name or keep my dad's last name because I'm their daughter not my husband's kid ( ??? ) Does that make sense? I don't think so lol
So I'm trying to argue with her, but she makes everything sound like she's right and I'm wrong. Sigh...

[Zapookie]

I quite like my last name, its pretty unique, but I would take my SO's last name any day. Taking his last name to me would mean that I'd become a part of his family, and it would tie me to him further. Who doesn't want to be tied to their love?

Of course! I have never even thought about NOT taking the person that I marry's last name. My name is so common, and his to me is pretty unique because I've never heard it before. I love it! I don't have a middle name, so I love it when he says my full name, with his surname as my middle name But I won't be keeping my surname at all. It will defineatlybe changed to his!

---------- Post added at 10:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------

Of course! I have never even thought about NOT taking the person that I marry's last name. My name is so common, and his to me is pretty unique because I've never heard it before. I love it! I don't have a middle name, so I love it when he says my full name, with his surname as my middle name But I won't be keeping my surname at all. It will defineatly be changed to his!

[eveningsky]

I thought about this a while ago actually. I always assumed I would take my husband's last name when I got married and actually looked forward to it because my last name is near the end of the alphabet and I always get called last or near last when people go by alphabetical order (and I hate that!) Also, my last name is long and I've never been to fond of that either. People do get my last name confused too but they get my first name confused even more! I think my SO's last name would be less confusing but it might get people confused sometimes too.
I love my full name. My parents talk passionately about how they came up with names for their children that have "musical" rhythm to them. His last name sounds less like a "musical rhythm" with my first and middle names. Plus, I would hate having to go to the trouble of changing my name. I would probably constantly forget to sign things correctly too. Also, I don't plan on having children of my own so there's no child issue here.
On the other hand, society would expect me to take his name and probably think we weren't married if I didn't. That's a silly reason to do something though, so I probably won't take his last name.

I def, would take my SOs last name lol
cus i have the same name as a famous actress that everyone knows lol
which the funny thing is my SOs last name is the same as her effin husbands!
go figure right? lol thank god she didnt take his last name.

But i dont really have a reason for wanting to take his last name,
I just think its the right thing to do. Id love nothing more than to be his wife to begin with
taking his last name will just be icing on the cake <3

[GrandSupreme]

My SO is taking my name his surname name is lovely... but it only suits him my first name would go horribly with his surname, and he has no aversion to taking mine! A lot of people think its weird to a guy to take the woman's name but meh

[Michivf04]

I had a conversation similar to this and i told him i wouldn't change my name. To me nobody in my family when married changes name plus I love the fact that i have to last names because I came from mom & dad. If i change my name my kids won't even get my last name as their second last name. Idk maybe I'm just weird but i like to think that is our kids and not just last name being passed down. Maybe its part of my culture why I'm like this. When i was in fourth grade my professor scolded me because i didn't put my two last names on a test and told me that it was just as important that my fathers last name. lol just seems funny now BUT entirely true my dad has been not involved in my life and my moms last name is more important to me cuz she's my mom/dad. The bad part if i pass down a last name would be my dad and idk how i feel about that. I don't like his last name either lol but i never would say it to him but defintly I'm keeping my options open who know Mr & Mrs does sound kinda cute.

[alesitag]

I must say, I like my last name, it's been mine all of my life!!! :P In Mexico we have two last names (dad's first, mom's second), but when people get married, women get to keep their father's last name adding her husband's last name with the word "de" (meaning "of") in the middle of them, something like this "Maria Rodriguez de (of) Lopez"

However, if we get to the point of marriage, and since I'd be moving to Canada, I'd take my SO's last name, first because it's Irish and I've been in love with Ireland for years... but also, because my last name, as much as I love it, has carried me some misunderstandings before when in contact with people from USA or Canada because of how it is spelled and how a native English speaker would pronounce it (even my SO mispronounced it when he new what it was, but I found it really cute). My SO even suggested using a hyphen so I could keep my last name, but that would be too long and I'm lazy lol