Maybe I’ve gotten too big for my breeches, but I don’t think I’d change my name now if I got married. Not because I consider myself a brand, but because that is how people know who I am. I’m Brittney Gilbert. What would I do with this website then?
Even Though I’ve Always Hated My Last Name (Sorry, Dad)
September 2nd, 2007 | Assorted
16 comments ↓
I think a woman not changing her name when she get married is not such a bad idea. It would think it helps keep legal documents in tact. I also think it is more of a tradition than anything else. But hey I’m still young and single so I might change my mind.
I didn’t, and didn’t see any reason to.
I like my last name, actually.
And, being in this country I can’t get married anyway … well a story for another day.
My wife didn’t take my last name when we got married. I actually prefer it that way.
It does cause occasional problems but most of them have gone away since we moved out of Utah.
i totally agree. i think it would make sense if i had gotten married before i had gone to school or started my (puny) career. MAYBE i would hyphenate. or i might consider if my only job was to stay home and raise the babies. maybe.
Well, you’ve just defined a brand. The difference is that you didn’t really set out to make Brittney Gilbert your brand; it just happened. The impression I get about the ladies written up in the Times is that they set out to build their brand and they don’t want the inconvenience of a marriage screwing that up. But I may be reading a little too much into all of that.
You’re not too big for your breeches. If people know you that way - for example, on a website or in a newspaper byline in my case - it’s just easier. Plus, we have so many more cards and accounts now for everything that I felt it would’ve taken me about two weeks to change everything. That’s just exhausting. That’s right, I’m that lazy.
well, you’re certainly ready to move to the bay area now
I never thought I would change my last name either…but then I met my husband and I couldn’t wait to have his last name…luckily you are free to choose to do what ever you want.
not that I spend a heap of time thinking on these subjects, but I did enjoy that link. having worked in the past in the (small) newspaper biz, I would often hear tales from brides-to-be that this ‘announcement’ was akin to ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bride.’ A voluminous account of family histories, and soon followed by the inevitable Sequel, the Wedding Write-Up. Woe to any Editor who made mistakes or changes to such. (My favorite was the accident which turned a ‘red satin dress’ into a ‘red satan dress.’
And a name should never be changed due to marriage, as the chore of returning to said name after the decline of love is needlessly arduous (or so the women I know have told me.)
Do you think there will come a time when a Groom decides to adopt the Bride’s name??
I never changed my name. And I got married young-ish.
I can’t imagine changing my name — but when I was researching for my book I talked to a ton of women who felt it was mostly just an aesthetics issue (”Does his name sound better?”) or wanted to have a “team name.” The last name chapter from Offbeat Bride was excerpted on Indiebride, if you’re interested: A Rose By Any Other (Last) Name.
My wife’s mother, on learning that there was no name change: “Oh, you just wanted to be different.”
My wife: “No, actually I just wanted to stay the same.”
My wife didn’t like her middle name so she dumped it when we got married, moved her maiden name to become her middle name (no hyphen) and made my name her last name. Both our kids have her maiden name as their middle names, too, which we’d planned from the time we got married. It worked for us and it didn’t require her to go totally anonymous after we got married.
“Brittney Boyfriend” just sounds wierd, anyway.
Although, I guess then it would be “Brittney Husband”.
I got married at 22 and didn’t change my name. It already felt like my name, you know? It always had.
This was especially convenient when I got divorced 7-8 years later. :( But you wouldn’t believe, even 6 years later, how many people ask me, what was your maiden name? And they don’t understand when I say that my name is my maiden name, and it was my married name.
Goodness.
Leave a Comment