What is your opinion on marital name change?

I moved to his country a few months after we were married. I never had the time to do any name changes in the States. So, legally, I am still known by my maiden name. I tend to hyphen it over here in Scotland. I don't believe in changing my last name. I am still the same person I was when it was given to me. Besides, I am working on my family tree and it makes it so much easier to find unknown family members if I use my original last name. If I were to change it, I would have to get in touch with social security, change my drivers license, my passport, etc.....way too much hassle.

I think it's a matter of choice. I personally preferred to use my husband's last name so my husband and kids and I would all match and not create added confusion. Now that I'm divorced I've kept it so my name is the same as my kids. They've all said at age 18 they're changing it to my maiden name! LOL We shall see.

When I was married that's almost 46 years ago I was proud to take my hubby's name after all of these years I am still happy about it , then we never heard of not doing that though , I would still do it again given the chance as he is a lovely guy xx

I think it should be up to the people getting married. I changed my name to my husband's name when we got married. I never really considered leaving it as my maiden name. It just makes things so much easier for us to all have the same last name. My husband is in the military, so for a lot of things my identity would be Mrs. (insert our last name here) anyway. Even if I had kept my own last name because that's just the way it works in the US military. Kind of like my ssn isn't all that important for most things. I have to use my husband's for anything the military covers for me and our baby, too. Anyway, I'm also proud to announce that I'm married to my husband. I wouldn't want to have a different last name than him. Not that there is anything wrong with people that do, it's just not me.

I think it is a matter of personal choice - but hyphenated names get so complicated and keeping your maiden makes it confusing when you have children. Whose name do they take? Then, people wonder if you are married or not because your name is different from your partner and/or children. There is a sense of identity loss with taking the spouse's last name, but a sense of togetherness as well. I wish I was more help! I guess I struggle with this one as well.

It is not a must. It is purely up to the individual. Certain people think it as a privilege to change their surname after the marriage. In certain area, the changed surname provides more social protection. Cerain others do it to show their solidaity and love to the spouse. It is up to the individual

Hey there! Welcome to MyLot! There are times when I feel I should have kept maiden name. I took the last name of my first husband and when I divorced him, I decided to keep his last name. That was until I began to have second thoughts about it. I needed to regain my own identity. He had to sign papers allowing me to change my name. When I married hubby #2, I took his last name. My daughter wanted me to hypenate our names, but that would have made it a very long name. Maybe I should have requested that he take my name!

i want mine hypenated in case i got married. really. i just dont want to change my family name. its ours and i know i should carry my husband's name as well but i will keep mine.

i think that all depends on the woman. it's her personal choice. i would change my name to my husband's last name. i would prefer Ms. too. i just really don't like my last name and want to change it. i'm tired of being at the end of the alphaebet. lol

Good debate started by you. according to my opinion if husband and wife really love to each other, both should exchange their surname after marriage. this helps to boost love and affection between both.

I think if I'm ever to marry, I will either do the hyphen thing or change my last name to my husband's. I do love him afterall if I marry right? I'm thinking of the hyphen thing because my dad doesn't have sons. But whatever you prefer should be alright.

I also feeli it should be about choice. It is nice to see no many women feel confident about keeping their own names and for many high profile professional career women like doctors or lawyers they often end up keeping their maiden names because their business may be tied in with it and there would be a lot of confusion in changing it. I changed my name - I didnt want to do the hyphen thing, but must admit I often regret it because I went from an easy to spell 4 letter last name to a difficult to spell and pronounce name! I am getting tired of having to spell out my name every single time I say it!

I was discussing this with one of my friends and she asked the same question.I think if the change happens then it should happen for both or for neither,by which I mean if the girl is Amanda watson and the boy is Stephen holmes ,then after marriage it would either remain same or it would be Amanda Watson holmes for the wife and the Stephen holmes watson for the husband.That would tell others they are married.As for the kids,they will have to choose one , whichever they prefer.Otherwise,it would keep adding up with generations.I hope I make sense.

I happily changed my last name to my husband's when we got married. This is one of few things that I feel very traditional about, for a couple of reasons. One is that it was important to him that I have his last name, and I definitely want to do anything that is important to my husband. One reason is more practical - I used to do billing for a private school and it gets very confusing when a family has two or three last names (one for the mom, one for the dad, and a totally new one for the children). That's a lot to remember, and it does confuse children too. Hyphenated names are a sweet idea, combining family names to combine families, but they can get very long and I frankly think it's mean to the children and rude to anyone who has to write the name over and over to create such a huge long name. I think women should be proud of being Mrs. HusbandsLastName and save the "I want to be myself" arguments for other times.

I think it is up to the individual to how they want their name to be when they get married. I don't think you can force someone to take the others persons name or full name. It seems here that many ladies like keeping their name as well as their husbands name. It would be interesting if a guy changed his name to the womans name. :-)

My daughter tried to convince me to hyphenate my name when I married my second husband. The name would have been too long. I decided to take his name. That was 8 1/2 years ago. I was pondering the reasoning behind taking his name. Why did I choose to give up my identity? It was my name for most of my life. *sigh* Live and learn.

No I absolutely don't agree that there should be any tradition for women to change their name upon marriage. I think that women should go by Ms. It seems really ridiculous that straight away is is apparent that a woman is either unmarried or married if she goes by Miss or Mrs, but men is always Mr no matter what (unless they are master which is reallyonly for small boys). I don't like the sound of Mrs...Missus no, its not nice at all!! Miss..implies either a young girl or an old woman, no ladies keep your name when you marry!

I believe its up to the individual. I prefer my name hyphenated with his. Gives a sense of unity, not possession. Mrs. or Ms. doesnt matter - I am older so natually most will call me "Mrs.". However, I do not go by "Mrs. Brion _____". I am not HE, only part of him (his last name). I dont mind getting introduced with him or getting mail with "Mr. & Mrs. Brion _________" on it, but dont introduce me or send me mail alone with just his name and 'Mrs.' before it.

They should merge their names to form a new name. Like Jones & Smith would become Jith, or Smones. That would be pretty damn choice.

I always thought changing your name to match your husbands name was the thing to do when you get married but then I tend to be a tad bit old fashioned at times. I'm of a much stronger opinion of once you and hubby split the sheets I would change back to my maiden name. So married I share the husbands name. Divorced I do not. Take Care