AIBU want to change my name?

[dh8892]

When I married DH 8 years ago, I wanted to double barrel our surnames, let’s say to Williams-Smith for an example. For many reasons I wanted this, such as not wanting to let go of my maiden name, professionally etc. we both took the double barrel

For the last 8 years people who don’t know us drop one half of the double barrel and call us just Mr & Mrs Williams. This frustrates both of us, especially my husband who is the Smith in this example.

We have 1 DS, with a double barrel.

I want to drop the double barrel & for us all to take DH’s surname for ease. The only thing stopping me is the fact all our wedding things/DS birth things are in the double barrel and that makes me sad to change the surname of my only child and to see he won’t have the same name now as he did as a baby.

maybe I’m being too sentimental and I just need to get on with it to save us all from another 40+ years of being frustrated and correcting everyone?

Stay double-barrelled.
If someone gets your name wrong then politely correct them and move on.

I'm surprised by this though as we've been double-barrelled for years and no one has ever tried to drop half our name.

@SausageRoll2020 I wonder if it’s because the first half of ours is unusual and hard to spell/say whilst the other half is very common/generic and seen daily so people give up on the first half and just do the part they can manage!

Don’t change your name, that seems crazy. Just correct people nicely but repeatedly.

Why don’t you all drop your husbands surname and just keep yours? Was that even discussed?

If you change your son's name he will have to declare both names on legal paperwork for the rest of his life. I would not change his name therefore.

How does it sound the other way around. Smith Williams for example
If you were thinking of taking your husband's surname anyway. Its still a step forward for womens lib I suppose, having a double barrel name. Our kids generation might have to do the rest!

Any married woman who took her husband's surname has to do this anyway, Paperwork asks for previous names so I always have to put my "maiden" name, hate that term. Hardly difficult. I happily changed mine as my birth surname was misspelled a lot.

This and be firmer.

On our situation I am Dr Williams and Mr Smith double barrelled to become Dr Williams ( I didn’t change) and he became Mr Williams Smith.

occasionally people call me Mrs Williams Smith - I correct them. He changed his name by deed poll although he wasn’t asked to and said he was sick of women being assumed to do all the changing and I had worked for my PhD and all my career in my maiden name so why shouldn’t he change? So if he did.

Kids are referred to by their surname and no one got it wrong. One of them is like Elizabeth and doesn’t like Lizzie she corrects it every time it is done. She is nearly 20 now and no one gets it wrong anymore

I kept my own name (and the title Ms), we gave our DD two surnames [my name, his name]. At first it was weird that people called DD [forename, his name]. MIL is the only person in the world to refer to me as "Mrs [his (their) surname]". It'd be too much admin to change anything now.