Changing your name

30 November -0001

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According to a recent survey, it's not all that popular to take your husbands name after your wedding, with just 60% of women following that tradition, these days.

The descision of wether or not to take your husbands name, was once un thought of, but now, it's a real descision for many women - and it can be a tough one.

But like everything else in life, your married name, and the chioce of wether you use it or not, is not black and white - you do have other options.

• Changing your name legally, would make traveling with the kids, dealing with schools and other personal matters easier, but still using your name professionally. It will be a small hassle setting things up when you change jobs, but will make day-to-day life much simpler.
• Combining both your names into a completely new one is not unheard of. For example, if you were Miller and he was Preston, you could combine them into the Millsons. Or you could create a whole new name - thinking of it as a clean break, or a new start
• Hyphens are becoming more and more popular. Either, you can hyphenate your own name, whilst he keeps his last name as normal, or, you can both hyphenate
• Similar to hyphenating, you could keep your maiden name as a middle name, meaning that you would have both names - you could put Mrs Ann Overton Smitt, or Mrs Ann Smitt, depending on the circumstance.

Pros
There are advantages to keeping his name, not least when the two of you become three. If you were the sort of little girl who used to doodle "Mrs Amelia Beckham" all over your jotter, then you now get the staisfaction of doodling a name AND using it. However, even if you weren't,that sort of girl, you can still take advantage of using his last name for monogramming, or table reservations.

Besides, so many people assume that you will use his name, so they will probably start addresing you as "Mrs Smitt" after your wedding, anyway

Cons
Changing your name may feel like a loss of identity, as you're only getting married - not undergong a brain transplant. You may also feel, why should you change your name, and he not change his. And Why indeed! It may well imply that you're old fashioned and traditional.

The reason many celebs don't change their name is that it may be difficult to re-establish a reputation with a different last name. If you're well established in your field, you may find you meet with similar difficulties after your wedding.

Also, if you've got a name that you like, then, you may not want to lose it. Similarly, if his last name is difficult to pronounce, or just not as good as yours, then you might feel it's best to stick with your own.

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