Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Wednesday Wedding Poll: Are you changing your name?

My mother kept her maiden name. A self proclaimed feminist, she decided at a very young age to keep her maiden name and though my father wasn't thrilled with this at first, they eventually talked it out and reached an understanding. I was asked countless times growing up if my parents were divorced and am getting asked that again now that our invitations are out, but my parents have been happily married for 30 years, this year!

Me on the other hand: I am fine with changing my name and never really had trouble deciding on this. Of course, this is nothing personal against my family, mother, or last name, but I am excited to share the same last name as Chris. I also do not know any one of my friends who have kept their last name through marriage, so I'm curious if there are others out there.
Source

What about you, are you changing your name?



Answers will be revealed on Friday!

13 comments:

Irene said...

So curious to see what your poll reveals. I also wonder what the results would be if the demographics of your fans was more my age than your age. Statistics show that only about 2% of women keep their birth names and even fewer men change theirs. Now theres an interesting poll!

HiLLjO said...

I was definitely going to, but now I see what a hassle I'll be going through alone to change it... I don't know...

winkingannie said...

His last name is just three letters, so I'm just tacking it on at the end of my name - I will then have 5 names. :)

Laura said...

I changed my name, and I never really thought much about it. I don't have any attachment to my last name, and I wanted to change it so we could become more of a "unit". I'm still getting used to the name change, but overall the whole process hasn't been too bad :)

Shannon said...

I couldn't wait to change my last name (though the paperwork part sucked). I never really liked my maiden name or was close to my father and I really wanted to share my name with my husband and our future children.

Heather said...

I definitely wanted to change my name, since my new last name is far less common than my old one, and leaves less chance for me to be confused with anyone else, which had happened. I also don't want there to be any confusion about whether we're divorced, and want to have the same last name as my children. In my eyes, feminism is the right to make your own choices and be confident in them!

steph c said...

My mom changed her name when she married my dad, and had SUCH issues changing it back after they got divorced. Even though I'm sure she'll be with her new hubby for the rest of her life (they're perfect together!), she opted to keep her last name this time, but I think it's mostly for professional reasons.

I always thought I'd change my name, and I voted that I would, but the closer it gets, the scarier it gets! I identify myself with my last name, and to be honest? My fiancé's last name isn't too awesome, lol. And hyphenating them would sound even dumber, trust me.

Long story short, yes, I will most likely change my name! It is definitely more common now a days for women to keep their names though, from what I've noticed.

Unknown said...

Hubby to be would not have it any other way! :)

Rebekah said...

I couldn't wait to share my husband's last name. It was so important to me. I had people ask if I would make my maiden name my "new" middle name but my maiden name is NOT good as a middle name. Plus I like my middle name. :)

Unknown said...

Really, changing my name to his will be the biggest change for us. We've lived together for a long time... So that's not new. We've shared money for awhile... So again, not new... But the name will be very new. And exciting!

Jasmine said...

I finally made the decision to take his name after we get married this summer. I debated it for a while and a huge factor for me was that my maiden name is already hyphenated (I have both my mom & dad's last names).

I think my first choice would have been to hyphenate his with mine... but because it's already hyphenated I didn't want it to be so long and full of hyphens.

I do think it's cute when women take their husbands name but if I had any intention of giving my children my maiden name, I would keep it for myself, as well. But I want my kids to have his name only!

It's such an important thing to think about!

jennybusybee said...

This has been the source of constant conversation between Mr. C and I, but I have decided to change my last name. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my name - hyphenate, use it as my middle name, use it professionally...I'm not sure. But we're going to figure out some compromise that makes us both happy!

Beth said...

I think I'm either going to hyphenate or keep my maiden name as a second middle. I'm still undecided!

Growing up, I was sure I'd drop my maiden, but I found my inner feminist right after my fiance proposed...