Amal Alamuddin has changed her name professionally

[EhricLovesTheBhrothers]

I'm actually disappointed. Her choice blah blah but honestly. Successful women who change their names professionally always strike me as either stupid or coerced and I'm sure that's unfair I'm not really but honestly why be so committed to the concept of the obliteration of the unmarried self that you allow it to impact on your professional reputation and renown?

That's a shame. However, it's not like anyone didn't know she was married now and it might save her from the "Mrs Clegg, who prefers to be known as MGD" shit.

Wonder if the Mail will refer to her as "AA, who prefers to be known as Mrs Clooney"?

Really? You think she's stupid? Okay then.

Fwiw, I didn't change my name professionally because i was already known in my industry and I wanted to make damn sure everyone could find me.

Given the amount of press coverage she's had, I would say she doesn't have the same problem.

So very disappointed. She made her name and forged her career using her own name. I don't understand the name changing madness no matter who does it but when its a successful well known woman (within her own field) it seems even worse

She's married GEORGE CLOONEY!!!!

I'd have Mrs Clooney tattooed on my forehead

The DM have written an article referring to her as Mrs clooney about 88 times.
Would you vest? Because I don't see it as an achievement

Vestandknickers

Um, her choice, her business. It doesn't make her less of a successful woman or great role model. She is well known and highly respected in her field. That's hardly going to change because she has a different surname is it?

And I thought feminism was at least partly about promoting free choice for and non-judgement of women........ She hasn't let down the sisterhood ffs. She has made a personal decision that we should respect and not feel somehow let down by.

I don't belie every choice is a feminist one just because a woman makes it.

But you seem to be judging her because she has made a choice which does not fit with your idea of feminism. And implying that an outstandingly intelligent woman has suddenly dropped a load of IQ points or been coerced into a decision just because she recently got married in your op.

Yep, she really strikes me as a stupid person who would be coerced into changing her name Get that chip off your shoulder OP - no-one else's business what she CHOOSES to call herself.

Ugh. Of course it's her choice. I'm not disappointed in her as much as disappointed at the lost chance to have a professional, high visibility woman show that it's normal not to change your name. When I was a teenager I assumed by the time my generation was getting married nobody would be doing anything as old-fashioned as changing their name when they got married. I am the only person I know (IRL) who hasn't. It's depressing.

When I read about them getting married I thought, ah well, she won't be changing her name, and felt glad about it. So now I'm disappointed.

Yes, I agree with poddling. I'd love to know the reason why. I bet George Alamuddin was never on the table.

Yes I am judging her. And I thi its a career damaging decision so a woman who makes it is either too thick to realise it, values her married identity more than their professional identity or is being coerced.

Wow! You evidently have a high opinion of women there OP

I agree with Orange. Nothing wrong with changing your name. Nothing wrong with not. I changed my name because we got married to join together as a pair and go through life together. Sharing a surname reflected this. We were going to double barrel but my father's refusal to come to the wedding kinda destroyed an already fragile family bond, so I just took my husband's.

I never used to understand why my educated, professional friends used to say 'I am not a feminist!' But having seen the comments from some on these threads I understand it. They obviously see feminism as the prescriptive, judgemental kind expressed by some on MN.

Ehric, in her case though, no one won't know who she is post name change

Ehric, others have very clearly explained why it is not career damaging for Amal.
And not every woman gets their primary identity through their job.

What Orange said.

I know many many senior female barristers, accountants and people working in the City who haven't changed their name. I am one of them. I don't need Amal or anyone else to keep/change their name to influence what I do.

Equally, 5 year old dd is growing up thinking its normal to have 2 names, one at work and one at home, as that's what mummy and all her aunts (on both sides of the family) do. I can bring dd up as a feminist without needing the help of a high profile woman.

I would also add that Cherie Booth carried on practising for many years as Cherie Blair but still the papers referred to her as Cherie Blair QC. She is even more successful than Amsl, more high profile career and married to someone who (back then) was I guess as high profile as Clooney.

I'm a professional woman with scientific publications in my maiden and married name. I chose to take my DH's name on marriage. My choice. I'm sorry it disappoints you. But I'm an intelligent woman with 3 degrees to my name. I thought it through and made a decision that was right for me, as I'm sure Amal Clooney did. I have not lost any credibility, everyone in my circle and quite a few in my academic subject area knew me as my maiden name and know me under my married name too. It has not been career damaging (and I do know this as it's my career and not yours).

I didn't change my name. Some of my friends did (all in same career) & I don't see any great difference in career success between those who did and didn't. It's her choice, as people said, I think people will still know who she is!

No it won't damage her career but it sends a pretty clear message about who gets top billing in their relationship.

And yes, choice is the most important thing in the world but that doesn't mean that all choices are feminist. Or that we can't have an opinion on someone else's choice, especially on a discussion board!

Maybe she hated the alliterative name her parent's gave her? That is the reason I changed my name on marriage. What a relief it was to give a name over the phone that didn't sound twee and have people going 'can you repeat that?'

My married name is now my professional name & it sounds much more professional than the one my parents lumbered me with.

i would be interested to know her reasons, though of course they are no one's business but hers so i wouldn't expect her to share them

in the acting industry very few women change their names professionally and that is going back many decades (i assume due to reputation and equity etc), so it is very usual when two actors marry for them both to keep their own names. presumably though amal sees both personal and professional benefit

I don't think Cherie Blair ever changed her name, she was just called that by everyone.

Interestingly, it seems to go the opposite way with Royal Brides. HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is still called Kate Middleton by all and sundry and Diana, Princess of Wales was Lady Di to many people until the day she died.

Shame about Amal Alamuddin . . . Clooney is a fugly name.

Heroic, you seem to think there is something wrong with valuing married identity more than professional?
Firstly, not every woman has a profession. Lots have jobs that they do to make ends meet.
We are not all the career driven, high succeeding high flyers you see showcasing their homes in the weekend supplement of the guardian y'know!
I personally think anyone who got their primary identity from the office based, bureaucratic job I have would be crazy, but each to their own.
I see us as primarily a social species, so make no apologies for the primacy of social relations in my life and identity. My husband and son make me way happier than sitting on my arse in front of a computer ever did or does.