Keeping your name when you get married?

You can double barrel your name but then I think your OH would have to then change his name by deed-poll too..... I would look into the implications of that. I love my name too and my brother has 2 daughters also so the name now has come to an end, but I'll 'always' be a Mc***** regardless of marriage, deep down

besides, I'm inheriting my mothers maiden name, which she uses so I'm gaining the family name as it is!

hope you dont find it too hard to choose. x

I'm changing my surname when I get married, but will be using my maiden name for work as I deal with lots of customers and that's how they know me. My dad used to own the company I work for too, so they like the link.

My Dad has a family surname as his middle name, not sure but I think you'd need to change your name by deed poll then for it to be official. Really simple to do and not too expensive.

I already have a daughter with h2b, and we both decided she should have his name. It's not automatic if you're not married!! His daughter with ex partner (they never married) has her mums surname.

Hi Suzie,

My surname was P and my H's H. I have changed to Mrs P H but without the hyphen. I am happy to be referred to occasionally as Mrs H, at the same time if people say my surname is just P (my boss does this a lot!) I'm not overly bothered. Our children will have both but probably just use H.

All I did was call anyone who had my name on file and let them know. I had to provide my marriage cert for various places - driving licence, bank. Haven't yet changed my passport because you can't do that for free! I didn't need a deed poll to do it, although I've heard these are very simple to do, and are about £75.

Might be an option for you - I understand completely why you would keep your name but I think as a "middle" name, you would need a deed poll, just to double barrell, probably not. Does that make sense?

Obviously you should do whatever makes you happy but I just wanted to point out that any children you have don't have to have their father's surname.

You could go double barrelled (that's what I am going to do). We are expecting our baby in November and Baby will be double barrelled from the start.

Your Husband does not have to be double barrelled if you go down that route.

It can be hyphened or not - totally up to you.

Children can have your maiden name, husbands surname or both.

Thanks everyone. I've never been one for double barrelled names and I don't think ours go together that well if you know what I mean ? However I'd never considered having both but without the hyphen.

Those of you who have gone for this option do you use both surnames when you sign for things and on bank documents etc, or do you just use your hubbys name and treat your maiden name like a 'middle name'?

Suzie x.

The only place that I won't be using my married name is work, my FIL is my boss & I don't particularly want to be explaining myself to clients.

I'd rather keep family & career separate.

I use both names. But if someone refers to just one name it doesn't offend me.

I have kept mine, so both H and I have different surnames, and our son has both and is double -barelled. If he (son) wants to drop one of the names when he is older (as it is a bit of a mouthful) then that is up to him and we are both fine with that.

Hey there,

I know how you feel as I really *love* my name but I am going to take my H2B's. He was considering taking mine but he has a son from a previous relationship who has his name so he does not want to change it.

My dad had a last name as one of his middle names (but he removed it) so it is not uncommon.

Do whatever makes you happy. It is not set in stone....you can always change it at some point in the future. How does your H2B feel?

xxx

I've changed my name, but I never really liked mine anyway! I am also the last in the family line. My maiden name can be a first name for a boy or a girl, so it will be a middle name for our first child.

As a teacher, I've seen a couple of options. Some have mothers with their maiden name, but have the married name. Some are double barrelled. Some have the mother as Ms Maiden, the father as Mr Married, and the children are Maiden-Married or Maiden Married.

I guess you could say h2b was a little hurt when I said I wanted to keep my name and (this was years ago) said we couldn't get married if I didn't take his name. However he did ask me to marry him even though I hadn't said that I'm waivering on the name thing!

I know it would make his day if he found out on our actual wedding day that I was going to become Mrs h2b and take his name, so I'm kind of chewing this over by myself and with you guys.

?

I'm sure I'll be mulling this one over for a while yet as we're not due to tie the knot for another year.

I'm planning on adding my maiden name as a middle name. It has to be done by deed poll, but if you look on their website it seems fairly straightforward. I love having hubby's name but like you my maiden name will die out as it's onlyme and my sister. I'd also like to pass it down as a middle name.

I didn't want to change my name when I married and it took months after the wedding for H and I to decide what to do.

In the end we both went double-barrelled. I was H and he was L, now we're both H-L. It seemed the fairest way, neither of us wanted to completely lose our name, and it was very important to me to still have the same name as my parents and brothers.

Neither of us had to do a Deed Poll. We simply told the various institutions (banks, DVLA etc) that we'd changed our names by marriage, adn supplied the Marriage Certificate as proof. No-one had a problem with that.

I used to work somewhere where I signed for a LOT of packages, so I basically changed my legible signature to a squiggle. When I got married I took on this sqig-nature as my usual signature, so I don't bother. If I was going to change it I would probably shorten it so it was first, middle and maiden name initial and full H's surname, IYSWIM?

When ever anything is "official", ie bank docs etc my full surname is printed, and I do use the full one at work. There are certain things where my name is just H's (eg on our pet insurance) but I make sure they have a note that I have a longer surname in case there is an issue should we claim. Basically "officially" I am Mrs P H but which name I use in which context is up to me.

As another example, my old boss used her middle name generally, had done for years, and her maiden name for work. But her "official" name was something completely different - first name + married name! This was on her passport etc but in "real life" she was something else!

Am I making sense or just confusing you?

Oh, one more thing - when I applied for new driving licence I was recommended to send a letter stating my new surname and format, which I did, with my marriage certificate, so it was made very clear to them. And they did get it right, so that's a good way to go ...

I'm taking my fiance's name as he's the only son, and if we were to have children, he'd like the family name to continue. I have a brother, so it's not an issue for me.

It really is up to the individual, but I don't think I'd feel married if I didn't become Mrs B.

Also if we have a daughter, my surname's Lindsey, so we can just call her that as a first name!