The great name change debate that is. In this day and age, it is pretty regular for women to keep their maiden names or to hyphenate their last names. And while that is the best choice for some women, it just wasn't what I wanted to do- at least not fully.
Many people had asked if I was going to change my name. To me, it was a no brainer. I always knew I would take my husbands last name. I wanted to have the same last name as my children, and as much as I love my maiden name- I knew that I wanted to change it.
The follow up question was if I was going to change my middle name to be my old last name, and that was another no brainer. No. And yes, I meant to bold that. There was no way I would give up my middle name. My middle name is Rose...along with 4 of my other cousins. It was my great-grandmothers middle name. The same great grandmother whose engagement ring I now wear as my own. It is the same middle name that I will be giving to our first daughter, as I know my cousin's will also do. So to me, it was never a question of changing my middle name.
This past Friday, I took the plunge and officially changed my name. We had our marriage license, my dad had brought up my birth certificate, I completed the application- and we were ready to go.The trips to the social security office and the BMV were pretty painless, and my license picture doesn't completely suck.
And even though I knew from day one that I would be making this change, it was still a little strange. When you go from being known as one thing for your entire life to having that piece of you gone, it's definitely an adjustment. So I made a game time decision and decided that, at least for now, I will socially hyphenate. Even though officially that's not my name, and I also have a crazy French last name now (both of them are already French- together, it's a lot), it felt like the best decision for me. And I'm happy with it.
