Change Thy Name....

So something that I have been meaning to look into lately, that seems to be falling to the bottom of the too hard basket is the process one must go through to legally change your last name from your maiden name, to your husbands new name. It is something that I guess I have kept putting off because it just seems like it is all to hard and I can't be bothered. I put the question to a whole bunch of work colleagues, so that they could provide me with some tips, hints and any problems they encountered whilst going through the process themselves, and I am glad I did! It appears that the process was no where near as "scary" as I first thought.

But the something that I wanted to share with you was this....on receiving my email, a colleague asked me the very simple question of " Why do you want to change your name?" to which I stupidly replied "because I would like to take my future husbands last name"........WRONG ANSWER....to which my colleague replied "but I am asking why you want to change it? Is there anything that you or he will gain from it?". At first the question really threw me off balance...and it took me a few minutes to realise exactly what they were asking. For the next few minutes instead of working, I sat there wondering what my exact answer for this question was, and it made me really think about the reasons for why I was making the change.

I guess in the end the decision is yours as to which path you go down. There are so many options including taking your husbands last name, hyphenating, double barreling your names or even combining your names to come up with something completely unique. I have decided to change my name because I think it is a privilege to accept my soon to be husband’s last name. It symbolises the start of a new life together for the both of us and for the future we plan together. It is a nice tradition but at the same time it doesn't mean you have to lose your own identity. I think part of the deal of getting married is that your fiancé’ is offering to give you his name in marriage - why would you not want to accept what he offers?