Have You Changed Your Last Name?

I kept my maiden name as my middle name and that helped with lots of things. My "old" name is still officially my name and I can use both. I did eventually change my passport, driver's license and other documents. However I still have a few investment accounts and had a business until recently under my original name. By using the three names (it works because they are all relatively short) I have maintained all my former contacts, work and personal. The benefits are that we have one family name and I get to keep my identity.

I didn't change my last name either. I don't think there is a time limit so you should be able to do it like you just got married. You'll have to get certified copies of your marriage certificate for each entity which will be pretty pricey.

You'll need to change your name with the DMV, Social Security, passport, if you have a car payment, with the lender, on your mortgage and any other bills that are in your maiden name.

For me, I didn't get married until I was in my 40's. Two of my grandkids have my last name. All things considered, it was easier, less expensive, and provided familial cohesiveness for our family so I didn't change my name. My hubby probably would have liked me to, but he's gotten used to it.

All you need is your marriage license, the rest is paperwork and phone calls. Apply at your local office for a new social security card and cal your credit card companies and banks. My passport was up for renewal so the timing was perfect. On the work front perhaps issue an email regarding the change? I changed my LinkedIn profile and it wasn't a problem. Good luck!

In California, the "easy" time to change your name is at the time of your marriage. You will likely have to go to court. The process isn't hard but it does cost some money and take some time. Here is a link to information at Nolo Press. You might also want to consult an attorney.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/changing-your-name...

I changed my name with my first marriage, changed it back when I divorced, and have not legally changed it now with my second (and last) marriage. My professional identity was one of the main reasons I opted not to change my name. (Plus, I like my last name.) Sometimes folks call me Mrs. Husband Last Name, or refer to us as Mr. and Mrs., mostly his family, and I have no problem with that.

Our daughter has his last name with my last name as one of her two middle names.

I'm so curious, though, what makes you want to change your name after 9 years?

I got married (in California) 10 years ago, and I googled "bride name change" at the time. Up came a whole bunch of name change "kits" where they would send you all the applicable paperwork to fill out. I'm sure these days you can do a lot of it online. All I ever had to show was my wedding license. I don't think there's a time limit on being able to change your name due to being married (?). If I remember correctly, I did Social Security first, then DMV, then passport, followed by bank, credit cards, etc etc. It's a real pain in the neck, but those kits are great because they have a whole laundry list of places to update your info, so you don't forget anything. Online profiles are pretty simple. Keep your maiden name, since everyone knows it, and simply add your married name. You will still come up when people search for you on LinkedIn and Facebook using your maiden name.

I will be married 3 years and am just now getting around to changing it. I own a biz and was worried about what I have to do with that. But I decided to hypen so I could get checks under both names. You can't do it online, you have to take your marriage cert in to Social Security first, then go to everything else. I'm on LinkedIn also and figure people will still find me with both names and I'm already hypenated on FB since we married, even tho it wasn't legally changed. Good luck.

Why after all this time do you want to change your name? I waited about four years, because I had just renewed my driver's licence and really didn't want to go through all of the stuff to change the name on everything. Eventually I did. The problem(s)--I wanted to keep my maiden name and just tag it on to my full name. It was too long to fit onto driver's licence. I was also obtaining my teaching certification...so long story short, I wasn't consistent with names and inadvertently ended up with several aliases. Not too big of a deal, I just have to remember each possible version of my name when I apply for important stuff. Whatever you decide to do, keep it simple.

I didn't change my name, have been married for 9 years and have three children. Occasionally it causes problems like in Texas when we wanted to rent a car and put me as second driver, we had no way to prove we were married. I asked the girl if I should carry a copy of my marriage certificate and she said, "well, just change your name." Whatever. I laughed anyway! Legally you should be able to be called by your husbands name anyway, but as you said, the paperwork won't reflect the change. Paperwork is costly and takes time. As for your linked-in profile or Facebook or whatever, just do what everyone else does and include both last names on your profile. Even my 77-year-old mother put her maiden name and married name on her Facebook page!

I kept my maiden name after marriage but as soon as I gave birth (about three years after we got married) I started the process to take my husbands name because I felt like the odd man out in the family being the only one with a different last name.

I went to the social security office to make the name change official then went to the DMV with my paperwork from the SS office to get a new drivers licence. I called up all the places where I have account or reoccurring bills and changed to my married name. Then over the next year, just changed my name whenever I stumbled upon a site or place where it was still my old name. I don't have a passport and I bought my house after I made my name change so I wouldn't know how to go about that but I assume it's like a lot of places, they require you to fax or scan in proof of name change and they'll take care of it for you.

For social networking sites, many of them have a field for a maiden name so you can enter in both and your name will display as First Last (Maiden) so people will know it's you, but you've changed your name. For the sites that don't have a special field, you can always change your last name in the personal profile to Last (Maiden) so it displays that way anyhow. After a while you can just drop the (Maiden) as most people will have gotten used to your new name by then.