Adventures in Name Changing

11 thoughts on “Adventures in Name Changing”

  1. Waaait a sec…

    “You never lose the right to use your birth surname or that of anyone you’ve ever been legally married to.”

    So does that mean that if my mother felt like it, she could use “Jaggard” again, despite having divorced my father 27 years ago, and having been married twice since then (and having changed her name each of those times as well?)

    Huh. Not that I can imagine her WANTING to (you wouldn’t think it’s that hard to spell, but nobody ever gets it right… messy divorce aside) but… huh. Interesting.

  2. Interesting and informative. However, I’m still too lazy. Besides “B” trumps “L” in any alphabet games. 🙂

  3. Donna: from what I understand, yes. Or at least, this is what I’m assuming, since there is no requirement to give up the use of a spouse’s name upon divorce. As far as I know, as long as she has a valid marriage certificate saying she married a Jaggard, she can use that name.

    Riann: damn you and your B!

  4. Thanks for the info! Having just renewed my passport in my maiden name I’m going to wait a while to change everything over legally, but I have been using Closs more and more, which is actually more of a headache than I thought it would be since I always forget which name I’ve used when making reservations, etc. I laughed when I read what you wrote about jumping up in the alphabet because I felt the same way, although ‘R’ isn’t as far down as ‘W’, the thought of jumping up to ‘C’ was exciting, but really it hasn’t affected me since elementary school so no biggie. 🙂

  5. Not only does she have a “B” it’s a “Ba”. I like my “L”. I’m always in the middle, regardless if it’s good or bad, or even if they switch it up and go reverse alphabetical.

  6. I agree with Brook! I went backwards in the alphabet so I could be closer to the middle, actually. I like the L much better than the G. Although, you can do more interesting things with a G in a monogram. I wouldn’t pass up being slow for the world though. *giggle*

  7. Thanks Jen!

    I’m thinking of adding my hubby’s surname as a middle name shortly before my passport expires, so now I have your handy-dandy posting as a reference tool! 🙂

  8. My stepdad’s wife kept his name years, years, years after they separated. I’m not even sure if she took her second husband’s name when they married. I don’t know why she did it, especially since she left my stepdad, as opposed to the other way around.

    My mom started her career at a local college with my father’s name (still married to him), then her maiden name upon divorce, and then sort of interchangeably that with my stepdad’s name after they married. At one point her bosses held a meeting and told her she’d have to pick one name and stick to it, because it was getting confusing.

  9. I think everyone’s reasons for changing (or not) their name are intensely personal, I’m really just aiming for a lack of confusion. Above all else, I wanted to pick a name and stick with it.

  10. On the off-chance that I do marry, I can’t see myself changing my name, unless my husband’s was really cool (like “Flash” or “Hugencoken”). You can’t really beat GG for initials, plus my last name has “gun” in it which is hard to beat for awesomeness.

    It seems like an awful lot of work, going to the trouble of a name change. Like, more so than getting married.

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