name change

[Portia]

So, if I change my name when I get married, could I opt for a new middle/maiden name?

I hate my last name. It's ugly, unpronounceable, and does not reflect my ancestry. I like my mother's maiden name, the one I was born with.

So what are my legal options? Can I go double-barrelled with my mom's maiden and my future husband's? Change my maiden name first? Use it as a new middle (I don't have one and I wish I did). That would be my choice!

This is no knock on my dad or his family: they're awesome. No one likes the name, ha!

If you're confused, let's say that my legal name is Portia Splatz. I was born Portia McAllister. My boyfriend is Bassanio Campbell.

The choices are:

Stay Splatz, less paperwork.
Change to Portia McAllister now. And stay or change at marriage. And have all the paperwork EVER.
Use Portia McAllister as a nom de plume only. (The boyfriend is already going to use Bassanio McAllister because his given name is that of a very famous person.)
Just Portia Campbell.
Portia McAllister Campbell. (Middle)
Porita McAllister-Campbell.

Also, my passport was stolen from me, can I replace it after a name change? I did the google, but most people you know, have theirs when they are married. HOORAY

[Whistler]

I'm PRETTY sure you can change your name to whatever you want. I changed my middle name to my maiden name and it seemed like it was about as much hassle as just changing my last name (although all the places I changed my name with assumed I was just changing my last name). I think you should make your mother's maiden name your middle name and your husband's your last name, since that seems to be what you want (although that might confuse genealogists, since most women who have a surname as a middle name use their own maiden name).

[OptimusPrime]

My wife went through something similar because she had a multitude of names, including a first name that is her mother's name that she has never used and that she was considering dropping. She might comment if she reads this, but if I remember correctly, the Social Security Card was the lynch pin of name changes (get that and everything else falls into place) and they basically told her she could change her name to anything she wanted.

[Portia]

Yes, after more research, it appears to vary by state.

And Whistler, this is, if anything, better for genealogists, from a strictly biological point of view. Illegitimate children were traditionally given their mother's last name.

[Portia]

Also, I think I will wait on a honeymoon til a few months after the wedding, to make sure the passport situation is ironed out. I'd been wanting to "do" Europe in the off-season anyway. It's been exactly one year that we've been dating, eek!

I think it's ironic that so many feminists attack women for their surname choices, when authors craft their identity in this way all the time. (I think it's kind of cool that my boyfriend wants to write under his future wife's mother's father's name, but uses his given name in day to day life. Oh, and he goes by his middle name, and no one goes around screaming at him that he's not a feminist.)

[Whistler]

Yes, after more research, it appears to vary by state.

And Whistler, this is, if anything, better for genealogists, from a strictly biological point of view. Illegitimate children were traditionally given their mother's last name.

[Portia]

Yes, after more research, it appears to vary by state.

And Whistler, this is, if anything, better for genealogists, from a strictly biological point of view. Illegitimate children were traditionally given their mother's last name.

:oops: :-)

My own genealogy baffles me! B-)