I was having a discussion about this yesterday with a friend who DID keep hers. She claimed it never crossed her mind to take her husband's name.
However, it never crossed my mind NOT to take it. I am very proud of being a Hamilton for 25 years, which is why DS has it as one of his middle names, but I always planned on taking my husband's name.
What about you ladies? Did you take it or not? And what is your reason why/why not?
Re: NBR poll: Did you keep your madien name?
I did (I thought he had a good one) but not at the expense of my middle name - which my family is attached to.
So now I get to be LBPS
*Edit* After reading other responses, I didn't realize it was popular to drop the maiden name all together. I kept all four names, so I'm First Middle Maiden Married.
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For me, it was never a question. I was taking H's last name.
I had no real connection to my maiden name. My mom got remarried, so she didn't have the same last name anymore, my little sister has a different last name so that left me and my sister. Plus, I'm on the outs with my dad, so dropping his last name was A-OK with me.
In addition, I want the same last name as my kids, and don't like the last name hyphenated deal.
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I was excited to take DH's name but left my maiden name on my official docs next to my middle name, just so I could see it :-) That and I became a really common name and thought that having it in there would make it harder to steal my identity :-)
ETA: I am jealous of people who can use their names as LOs name. I had a coworker who had a baby with her BF (they're married now) but they made her name the middle and he has the coolest name ever. Jealous!
My maiden name is now my middle name and will hopefully be used in some fashion if we have a girl. My taking his name was very important to DH and I always planned to take it. We are traditional and southern and such.
This. I took my husband's name. It never crossed my mind either to not take it.
I grew up never knowing anyone who did that until I got my first real job. Women in my family just dropped their maiden name when they got married, so that was normal. I think it's a great alternative to losing the maiden name altogether. I didn't do it though, so I am First Name Middle Name Married Name.
This.
This.
It's way too funky to ever be a child's first name, though, which makes me a little sad.
Same here!
I kept my maiden name and never considered taking DH's name. DD has DH's last name and my last name is her middle name.
I have a very common first name so it's always been my last name that is more distinguishing. I didn't want to give it up. It's never been a big deal.
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We're not married yet, but I'll probably take my fiance's last name. I'm not the traditional type so I have considered keeping my own. However, I'd really like to have the same last name as my kids, so I'll likely take his.
I personally think it's a lot more common to take your husbands last name, but I've heard lots of people here lately say otherwise. I guess times are changing!
We compromised and combined our last names and then we both changed it. No hyphen just smashed together. So all 3 of us have the same name AND both of our last names are accounted for. Plus it sounds cool, I think we're lucky it worked out like that.
I kept my maiden name and really don't have any intentions of changing it. Honestly, he has a very long obnoxious name and even more importantly I really don't want to be associated with most of his family. That might sound bad but I like having my separation from them which to me means keeping my maiden name.
Though I haven't legally changed it, I go by both names. DD's daycare calls me Mrs. (dh) and everyone else does as well; I use them interchangeably all the time.
I took my husband's name, never thought of keeping my maiden name.
reasons: tradition, not that close to my dad so didn't feel particularly attached to it, will use it for a boy's name if we have a son.
I hyphenated my maiden and married names but I never use both unless I'm signing a legal document.
I was "older" when I got married- in my mid-30's. I had established a career using my maiden name so I wanted to keep it for work. It is also a safety thing for me to keep my maiden name at work and not have some people find out my married name because of the type of job I have. However, I wanted to have the same name as my kids for traveling (on my passport), school, etc. I didn't want there to be any confusion.
It hasn't been a problem - people at work know me by my maiden name and people in my social life call me by my married name. I'm the only one who gets confused!
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I still use my maiden name. I was married in Quebec, where marriage is not a valid reason for changing your last name (because the divorce rate was so ridiculously high in the 1980s, and it was causing all kinds of problems for official record-keeping). I'm glad I didn't in the end, I like it better with my first name than my husband's.
My last name is Gabe's middle name. If we have other children we plan to do that as a tradition.
It was a really hard decision - one that I will second guess for a while. Ultimately, I wanted our family (kids) to all have the same last name. And dh didn't want to break his father's heart and change his name. I often wish dh and I had both chosen a new last name.
eta: my maiden is my middle
This is also true for me. If I did change my name, I would have worked under my maiden name which is much more common than my husband's.
This is an odd question, bu I was wondering if you knew what color paint the blue wall in your pictures is? I LOVE that color, but can not seem to find the paint color that looks like it. I am not sure if you would call it blue or grey.
WOW! I didn't realize that married women don't take their husband's names. My mom was born in Montreal and has never mentioned it. Granted, her and my dad married here, in BC,so she may not have known.
Interesting...
I really screwed up the name change process and I wish I had never even bothered. Initially I really wanted to take DH's last name- it is a nice scottish last name and i am scottish but my last name was german, I also wanted to have the last name as any LO's. But when I got married I delayed changing my name because I owned a house in my maiden name, then the market fell apart and I couldn't sell the house till a year later. In the interim I changed my last name at work (but not on any documents). When LO was born I hadn't yet changed my health card so in the hospital she was listed under my maiden name. Finally this past summer I changed my name on my driver's license, health card and passport- but not on my SIN - because a lawyer told me not to do that. Now I am having issues with the bank because my ID is in my married name, but I need my tax/rrsp info in my maiden name. It's a big mess... As for DD she has DH's name as her last name and my maiden name as her middle name. DH and I agreed that my maiden name would be used as a middle name for all the kids we would have. If I could do it all again I definately would do it differently.
As an aside I know a girl who had a baby on her own via IVF -the baby had her last name, then she got married and had another baby with her DH and they named the second baby with her last name so the kids would have the same last name.
I kept my maiden name for 6 years because DH and I would have been the equivalent of this:
John Christopher Doe and Jane Christina Doe.
DH was never bothered by me keeping my maiden name, even when we were greeted on our honeymoon as Mr. and Mrs. MaidenName. I had always planned to take DH's name when we had children and it was very important to DH that I did it before I delivered so that the hospital wouldn't refer to the baby as Baby MaidenName.
Good thing not too much pregnancy weight was in my face because getting a new driver's license photo at 37 weeks pregnant was not my best idea
I ditched my maiden name... I'm First Middle Married. I have no emotional attachment to my maiden name, I love my dad a lot, but his family totally screwed us over and we don't talk to them, so leaving that last name behind is no skin off my nose. I'm his daugther and will always be a S_______, but I'm glad I took DH's name.
My mom's maiden name is Cole and I love her family and considered naming Collin "Cole" - but it evolved to Collin instead, I like it better and it sounds better with our last name than Cole.