When a girl gets married, it is expected that she will take her husband’s name. This may seem romantic to some, like ownership to others. The process though can be quite complicated. The level of complication has a lot to do with where you are in life at the time of your marriage. A young girl just out of high school maybe has to change her driver’s license and social security card and that is it. A woman that is older may have a bit more trouble.
My first marriage was right after high school and I had no problem changing my name…7 years later I was divorced and everything I had accomplished, college, nursing degree and license, certifications, maybe a few credit cards, numerous bills, my four children…well they were all attached to that name. I did not change my name back to my maiden name after divorce for that reason. Then 6 more years passed…and I was married again. I have been married about a month and a half…and still not everything is changed over to my new name. Every week I try to change my name with one of the various agencies that knows me. It has begun to seem like it will never end. I couldn’t change my name at work until my nursing license was changed….so I had to use my old name there, my new name on checks, my old name at school, and my new name somewhere else…it was confusing! Many times at work I signed a medication record with two different initials. I finally changed my name at work, but all my logins to the med pyxis and supply pyxis and computers all still use my old last name…yet another thing to change…
All the while, my new husband has no similar distress to worry about. His name is his name. Some women decide not to change their name with marriage and I think that is understandable, and some men are accepting of that. Though I do know of a woman that kept her ex husband’s name even after 20 years of marriage to someone else…I have already told my new husband that he cant have his name back! This is the last time I am changing my name….not just because I love him with all my heart and am so happy to be with him, but well….it is just too much trouble! 
