I'm not yet divorced but I'm keeping my married name.

My maiden name is a French-Canadian 11 letter monstrosity that people can't spell or pronounce and my married name is a relatively common (it's in the top 300 most popular surnames) 5 letter name - it was kind of a no-brainer for me. My dad is a little miffed but my mom (who's maiden name was Goldman) *totally* gets it.

reclaim your name!!

i think that is what you're pulled to do and this is about you not what other people think or want.

i have given it some thought- i hated my maiden name, i don't like my married name... if something ever happened i'd go by something else entirely, my grandmothers maiden name, which is lovely.

I know when I have to contact a student's parent, I look up both the mother's and the father's last name before making that call. Schools are starting to wise up to the fact that not only do kids not always share a last name with their children, but you might not be contacting their parents anyways.

Besides, I can't see you to be the type to be offended if someone called you by your married name post-name change. Go for it. Change away

You are quite right. I've been on the wrong end of that particular situation myself, assuming the parent/child have the same last name.

I haven't read all the replies, but I thought I'd share my thoughts.

I would personally go back to my maiden name if I was in your situation. My parents were divorced, I had my father's last name but my mom went back to her maiden name. From my perspective, it never seemed to be that big of a deal. In fact, thinking back on it, I think I would have been bothered if my mother had kept my father's last name, and I can't even pinpoint why it would bug me.

I recently got married and went from a beautiful unique-without-being-too-weird Irish name, Megan Kendrick, to a funky Polish name. I am proud to be part of his family, but, well, let's just say I didn't marry him for his name. So I'm still going through almost a mourning process of my old identity. Saying my new name still sounds so strange to me. If I were to ever get divorced (God forbid) I'm quite certain that I'd take my maiden name back.

Do what makes YOU happy, and if that's going back to your maiden name do it! I personally wouldn't want an ex husbands last name stuck to me for the rest of my life that's for sure!

I kept my ex's last name for a few reasons. I like the name better (easier to spell and flows well with my first name). My son and I have the same last name which is convenient. I got married right out of college, so all of my professional contacts know me only by that name. Finally - it's kind of a pain in the neck to change your name on everything again

I don't have a problem with "going from one man's name to another" if I get remarried - it's my name now. (Although it is a little weird having the same last name as his new wife.)

Juliana

I think you should do what you want. If I were getting divorced, I'd probably be all too glad to disassociate myself from my ex's name. If you were to change your name back, you will probably have to explain it more often than you would like to, but it would be worth it. I'd probably post a message about the change on Facebook, send out an email announcement and/or cards to everyone you know. Might help cut down on the explaining.