Straw poll: if you married in the last 5 years, did you change your name or not?

[HerculesTheBerkules]

Just talking about this at work, I thought more people changed their names than didn't, but colleague thought otherwise. What did you do? (Just curiosity, you don't have to explain your decision btw!)

*chuckiecheese.....oh bore off yawn...

Kept mine. Will never change it. Majority of my friends have double barrel names, but my surname doesn't go with anything. DH couldn't care less one way or another, but MIL has made a few sly digs over the years.

I got married 30 years ago and kept my name. I knew no-one else who did then and still among my friends I am the only one who isn't Mrs. Husbandname.

Changed mine from my double-barelled maiden name to his single sirname. Mainly because I didn't like being double-barelled and his name is nicer.

Kept my maiden name as did SIL (DH’s brother’s wife). Has caused couple of comments from MIL and Mum but nothing major. DH already has a historic double barrelled name so can’t really triple barrel!

DSis changed hers as did my best friend. Other friend has her maiden name as middle name but rarely uses it.

Congrats @Thurlow !

Married three years ago, took his name, never really considered not to tbh

Congratulations Thurlow!

I changed my name to the disappointment of many of my friends. I like having a name that identifies us as a family.
@chuckiecheese -I agree. Of course my maiden name was my own, but it was given to me by my father, just like my husband was given his name from his father.

I got married 25 years ago and kept my name. My DSis and SIL also kept theirs. Of the weddings I’ve been to inthe last few years, the majority of the brides kept their surname. Of the 12 females in my office, they have all kept their surname. I’d assumed, obviously wrongly from the comments on this thread, that brides didn’t change their surname.

We both hyphenated, but kept our birth names for work.

Sometimes I wish I hadn't bothered actually... my name is really long now

Hyphenated = double barrelled. Stupid baby brain!

Married 2014.

I didn't change my name, my name isn't my Dad's either though so I guess I can still call myself a feminist 😉

I changed it because

1. I wanted to be a family and therefore I feel we should all have the same name (kids have the same name as us both)
2. I hated my maiden name - it was a bit embarrassing

Nearly everyone I know has changed. One has double barreled.

I changed mine and as fair as I can think everyone I know who has got married has also changed theirs

Waited a year and a half as I wasn't sure but decided to change it when my passport came up for renewal. Professionally I still use my birth name. My preference would have been to double barrell but my birth name is extremely long and it would have been impossible to combine them into one.

I find it strange when married women don't change their names but the children get the husband's name (not double barrelled). So everyone except mum in the family has the same surname - it's like she's the odd person out.

I changed mine

My friend kept hers and their son is double-barrelled

Married 4.5 years ago - we both changed our name to something different (but the same as each other) - sort of merged the names to make a new one.

I changed my name. I'm not keen on double barrelling and our names didn't go together very well.

I wanted us all to have the same name when it came to having children. On a practical level my maiden name is foreign and I'm a bit foreign looking and I was concerned if I was to travel with a more English looking child it would look odd having a different surname.

I got married last month and kept my name. I would've been happy to double barrel though. Our first baby is due in Nov and DH is considering changing his or double barreling baby's name so we're all the same

Married three years ago and I changed my name. I'm a feminist but I really dislike my father so that was a huge motivation. It's also an 'non-English' name and I knew it would be easier to get rid of it.

No, and I don't have a single friend who changed her name. I'm always puzzled by how popular name-changing on marriage seems to be on Mn, when it just isn't something I see in my RL among people I know well.

Anecdotally, there seems to me to be a strong correlation between educational and professional attainment and keeping your birth name -- and it makes sense that someone with a strong record of professional achievement and recognition associated with her name would choose to keep continuity, rather than bleat about wanting to 'feel like a family' or the even weirder choice of keeping her own name for professional situations but changing it for personal ones.

I wonder whether it's borne out in the statistics.

I kept my name. SIL changed hers. All my work colleagues kept theirs. All my cousins /cousins' wives changed theirs. All my friends from college changed theirs. All DHs friends' wives changed theirs

I knew someone who changed her name but kept it for work. She was going through a lot of work stress and felt it helped keep the two separate.

Married last year, haven't changed it.
But I'm not precious about it, we had anniversary cards to Mr and Mrs XXX and I book restaurants in his name as it's easier to spell.

I changed mine.