desusa

I fully intended changing my surname to my husband's as I want our future family to all share the same name. This was even though his surname is long, hard to pronounce, hard to spell and like Dekka's Angel comment, would scream a completely different ethnicity. Even so, I have settled on a new signature and try to at least use it as often as possible.

However, due to all the immigration business, I have found it hard to formally change my name here. I found with getting an state ID card/ D/L and new passport the offices wanted not only the marriage certificate to prove the name change but also some other form of govt. issued ID in the married name. Because originally, the BCIS would not issue my EAD in my married name I had no where to start.

Anyway, I could probably go ahead now and start the change since I have my greencard and a D/L but the last thing I want to do at this stage is start filling out paperwork again! I'm giving it a rest and will just live with two names! I'd like to think it gives me a little mystery!

My husband likes the fact that I want to take his name but didn't mind either way. Plus the more I have to spell it out to people (and the addition of an accent doesn't help), the more I think I'll just stick with the maiden name for now. I'll start thinking about it again when we think about having children in a few years.

kariml

I am taking his name and I am very excited about it
I have always hated my last name. It is very boring, but like someone said earlier "can you spell that, please" will surely be heard often.

Kari

Ron

LOL - good one!

"SundarV" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > My wife is not taking my last name. But my last name is too looooooong.
    > Her maiden name is much longer. I told her that she is going to have to
    > shorten it after coming to the US.
    > I am going to shorten my last name legally after I become a citizen. The
    > place I come from in India, we don't have the concept of last name. My
    > last name is actually my dad's first name. If my wife takes my name, she
    > would actually take my first name. So there would anyway be lot of
    > confusion. I think I am just going to change the name to something
    > simple like "Smith" :-)
    > Sundar
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

majken

I can relate to that one. I had to make up a new signature then, too. It took a while to get used to someone else's last name when referring to yourself.

I do know someone who was so eager to change her name after getting married that, a month after marriage, when her mother paged her at Macy's using her maiden name, she thought, "That couldn't be me," and ignored the page.

mrsm

I hyphenated adding my USC husbands name (German ancestry). I wanted to hold on to my English/Welsh family name, not very common here in the US. Nine times out of ten both names are mispronounced and that can be amusing (most of the time).

Christa

"MrsLondon" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I changed mine to my husband's. He wanted me to. I didn't want to at
    > first but now I like being Mrs Manning.

Your choice. I'm a bit surprised, though. Weren't you talking about gender
equality the other day?
If you're working in the US, you also may want to call yourself Ms Manning.
Mrs would be for private occasions only.

anggraeni

I just add my husband's last name in the end of my name. I am Indonesian and some of us dont use family name and my Indonesian family is one of them. So all the name that I have is all mine. Easy, just add my husband's in the end!

Before I did that people here call me with my last name (that actually wasnt my family name) so its kinda funny. And yes, I still have to SPELL it all the time because people here dont have no idea how long my name is and how to write it down haha. And seeing them trying to pronounce my name, oh that always bring smile in my face, haha!

I will have my driving lisence soon and I am wondering if there is enough space in the DL card to write my name AND my new family name.... hahaha..

have a nice day!
anggraeni

mikkitango

[/QUOTE] Your choice. I'm a bit surprised, though. Weren't you talking about gender equality the other day?
If you're working in the US, you also may want to call yourself Ms Manning.
Mrs would be for private occasions only. [/QUOTE]


Hmmm..... choice of name and gender equality don't necessarily go together.... I think some people see it that way, but the name a person chooses to go by doesn't reflect on the equality of their partnership in any way, shape, or form.... nor does it reflect on the equality of men/women period. It is becoming increasingly popular for men to take the woman's name, or as a few people here have mentioned - creating a new surname. To each their own!

Mikki

lairdside

My step-daughter and her husband opted for the "new surname" thingy.

I thought it was cute

MrsLondon

I was asking when it became possible for a USC woman to petition for her husband to get a visa, as in the UK it has not always been possible for a woman to do so, only for a man to bring his wife over. (Changed about 1974). I think most would agree that the right to live in the country you choose, rather than having no choice but to live in the husband's country, is more important than keeping your maiden name (which was afterall, a man's name too-- your father's).

cindyabs

I had reverted to my maiden name after my divorce. When my UKC husband and I married I combined my maiden name and his surname.

Just Jenney

I did the opposite, actually -- I kept my ex-husband's surname after we'd divorced. I'd gotten used to it, liked it better than my maiden name, it's "easier." However, Mark's surname is even easier!!! I plan to change my name to Jennifer Stevens just as soon as possible -- I can't wait!! (Of course, he's been calling me Mrs. Stevens practically since the day we met!)

I'm excited about taking Mark's surname for several reasons. One is that -- as traditional as this might seem -- I think it is a way to honor Mark and his family. Another is that I really like the sound of it -- "Jennifer Stevens" just has a nice ring to it!! And another is the fact that most everyone knows the surname "Stevens." It's common like Mitchell or Howard or Williams. The worst that can happen is that I have to clarify that it's "Stevens-with-a-V" to make sure they spell it right!

I have to admit, though, that I'm a *little* nervous about it in one respect -- the commonality of the name. I looked in the Richmond phone book and there are two Jennifer Stevenses in there already. One of them has the same middle initial as me, too!! I wonder if I'll get mail that's not mine, or be more prone to identify theft. Never having had a common name, I don't know about the possible negative implications of it.

But the bottom line is, I CAN'T WAIT to be Jennifer Stevens!! And yes -- I've been practicing my new signature for almost a year now!!

~ Jenney

Margaret

I took on my second husband's last name - good Scottish last name, my
parents were pleased considering my first husband's last name was
Italian. My parents are Scottish.

My two older girls (by first marriage) have their dad's last name but
they are back in Canada and on their own.

My son (with me) has his dad's last name, (he's by a second
relationship - common law) and his dad also has an Italian last name.
His last name will not be changed. I wouldn't consider it for one
thing and his dad would not be too happy for another.

It confuses some people but no one assumes that all family members in
the same family have the same last name. Not in this day and age.

Endymion

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jenney & Mark



I have to admit, though, that I'm a *little* nervous about it in one respect -- the commonality of the name.
[QUOTE]

Hmm- I guess that's my reason for clinging to my maiden name :-)... My first name being Rebecca (which is not too common among women around my age over here in Germany) I will feed my "sense of individuality" by choosing not to change my name into "Plunkett".... ;-)

Besides, I realized that most Americans tend to give my German name this great French pronunciation! Could there anything be nicer than a little tinge of French- or is it in these days more of a tinge of "freedom" (wink)???

Good luck to all of you!

---------------------
still waiting for 1 NOA from VSC

Christa

"MrsLondon" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > >
    > >
    > > Your choice. I'm a bit surprised, though. Weren't you talking
    > > about gender
    > > equality the other day?
    > > If you're working in the US, you also may want to call yourself Ms
    > > Manning.
    > > Mrs would be for private occasions only.
    > I was asking when it became possible for a USC woman to petition for her
    > husband to get a visa, as in the UK it has not always been possible for
    > a woman to do so, only for a man to bring his wife over. (Changed about
    > 1974). I think most would agree that the right to live in the country
    > you choose, rather than having no choice but to live in the husband's
    > country, is more important than keeping your maiden name (which was
    > afterall, a man's name too-- your father's).
    > --

I had my father's name since I was born and everybody knows meby this name.
The gender issue is about changing the name at all as a (grown) woman (I
married when I was 44). We decided to both keep our own names, as a family
name doesn't add anything for us.
Peace.