Do women still hyphenate when they get married?

I did when I got married in 91. I kept it after the divorce because of my kids but in retrospect I wish I wouldn't have changed it in the first place (even if I hadn't divorced). I don't go to many weddings, do a lot of women still hypenate?

I had always said that if I got married I wouldn't change my name because I thought one of the adults in the house should have the same name as the kid--and I already had a kid w/ my last name.

Turns out that wasn't an issue because no one wanted me.

Now my kid is all grown up, and I still think that if I got married, I wouldn't bother to change my name. I guess I just don't understand why it's necessary to do all that work. And besides... I am who I am... my identity doesn't change when I get married... why should my name?

(When kids are in the picture, I truly believe there should be at least ONE adult in the house w/ the same last name as the kid. I just think that makes things easier for the kid, for the doctors, the teachers, the coaches, etc.)

i just posted somethign similar.

or saw it w/o being conscious of it. Oy :blush:

I was married in January out of the country and I was supposed to have my marriage certificate by the beginning of this month. It's delayed. I haven't been able to change my name yet, but I just went through a job hunting process, etc. in a state of in-between limbo.
I changed my name when I was married before (also in '91), went back to my maiden name when divorced, and thought very hard about changing my name again. I thought about keeping both (maiden and my current husband's) and my husband was comfortable with any decision I made, but ultimately, I decided that I didn't want three last names under one roof (my children have their dad's, my maiden name, my husband's name). Until I can get all my paperwork done to "officially" change it, I'm unofficially hyphenating.

At this point I think about all the hoops you have to jump through to change it back and I'm just too lazy. Although if I were to ever remarry (hahahahah)probably wouldn't be prudent to keep the ex's last name. I'd definitely go back to my "maiden" name.

It's the perfect solution to me. Then I can use whatever name I want, whenever I want pretty much. If the hubby pissed me the hell OFF - I'd get some satisfaction in signing myself Jennifer MAIDEN NAME I think. LOL

My maiden name was *ahem* unusual to say the least and my married one is far more run of the mill.

In the Italian speaking parts of Switzerland, Heidi MaidenName MarriedName is written Heidi MarriedName (nata, meaning born) MaidenName. Since a lot of my work is signed, it just seemed easier for me to keep everything straight by hyphenating: Heidi MaidenName-MarriedName. :shrug:

It's a lot of paperwork and my last name is a lot easier to spell and pronounce than my husband's name. Plus my last name is me. I'm not a part of his family. I'm a part of my family.

...and he did.
It's so cool.

I kept the name that I'd had for the past 30 years. My dh kept his too.

My children, on the other hand, have hyphenated names.

It's not a problem for anyone. The doctor's office knows who's responsible for the bill, the schools have our names in the same place as they have our phone number and my children don't seem to have any issues with their identity or the fact that their last name is different and unique.

Our park district wants to list us under one last name though, so that goes under the hyphenated variation.

I've seen people do everything - change their names, keep their names, hyphenate their names or have everyone change to a name that's new to all.

I did it only to have a last-name connection w/ my future children (who are now flesh and blood children). In retrospect, people could have just dealt with the fact that my name was not the same as the rest of my family's.

Guess I have never thought about this, but can't you choose whose name your children get?

You can give your kids whatever last name you want. We hyphenated my name and my husband's name for our kids' last name, but it does seem that most people use the husband's last name.

She originally wanted to get rid of her last name and take mine, but I convinced her to at least hyphenate.

Of course, that was in the 90s when we had Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I am getting married in September and I can't decide what to do about my name. I have no children and I have never been married. Giving up my last name seems so sad, to me it kinda feels like I would be renouncing my family. Jones-Robbins sounds kinda weird to me and I am not sure i just wanna be Aly Robbins. I may decide to just stay plan old Aly Jones.

Aly

:wow:

Okay, just joking. I didn't hyphenate when I got married, just kept my former married name since that was my son's name. My husband adopted my son after a few months of marriage so then I took his name (so we all had the same name). I did change my middle name at that time to my maiden name and am VERY happy I did that.

When she was married in 1995, she was already known in her field by her maiden name. She hyphenated that with married name to continue in her field (she is a university-level English professor) with the same identity level.

Socially, she is known by her married name only (as well as her first name, of course).

to fit on a payroll check!

So I use my maiden name as a middle name.

I sometimes wished I hadn't changed it, because I like my old name-- it was my identity, and my initials were "M.M.", which was fun.

But it would be way too much work to change it now, and my husband would probably feel a bit insulted.

No one can spell or pronounce my last name; his name is even worse. Besides just wanting to remain me, I could just imagine the nightmare of dealing with government agencies trying to change one difficult name to another, even more difficult name.