I changed my name today

[charlie'sdad]

Thank you! We were engaged for 18 months. I planned the wedding while wrapping up law school and my mother in law took over everything while I studied for the bar. It was a very very busy summer for me between graduating, studying for and taking the bar, getting married, honeymoon, and to top it all off I start my job tomorrow!

Congrats! That is complete deja vu for me from 2007. Graduated from law school late May, studied for the bar, took the bar late July, married August 4, honeymoon in Europe, started job on return. And since I got my passing results some time in September, I am sure you have or will too.

[Scoutpout]

yikes thats a crazy busy bunch of months! congrats on all of it - i'm sure that you'll find you've passed, so no harm congratulating you now!

The whole name change thing is such a landmine of social/familia expectations. 1 of my cousins took her married name socially but kept her maiden name professionally, and there was such family talk about that! (25yrs ago now..), and another kept both names. I wasnt going to change mine, but got the stink eye from so many that i thought what the heck... its shorter and earlier in the alphabet, but a german spelling so was constantly having to correct people about it. now 20 yrs later i've gone back to my maiden name, and that feels weird again too.... it seems you just can't win! Here at least, "legally" women never "lose" their maiden name, so its less involved to go back to it, than it is to change it to the married name. Except of course with some credit card companies......yikes.

[charlie55]

My DH and I lived together for a year and dated a few years before we got married.

Nothing seemed different once we got married, except when I changed my name. IT WAS a weird feeling, like I was a different person. To top it off, because my name is so common (Jennifer) my friends called me by my last name (maiden name)

[arentspowell]

My DH and I lived together for a year and dated a few years before we got married. Nothing seemed different once we got married, except when I changed my name. IT WAS a weird feeling, like I was a different person. To top it off, because my name is so common (Jennifer) my friends called me by my last name (maiden name)

Everyone told us being married "changes everything" and how things were going to be different. We lived together before and everything still feels the same...except my last name! Lol

[thndrkttn]

To top it off, because my name is so common (Jennifer) my friends called me by my last name (maiden name)

Same here and same for most of the 17 Jennifer's I graduated with. It was a no brainer to keep my maiden as my middle since that was used as my first name for years. Dropping my maiden would have been like cutting off an arm.

Congrats to the OP on so many exciting milestones. I can't even begin to imagine planning a wedding while studying for the bar. I was so stressed out during wedding planning. Throw studying for the bar on top of that and I would have a complete lunatic! Would have needed counseling after that.

[ZoeysMommy]

I was a little sad when i changed my name, it was like saying goodbye to something so i know what you mean

Congrats on the wedding!!!

[amandalmw]

Congratulations!

I still miss my maiden name. I don't like my married last name at all (it's weird and people always comment on it), but it was just easier to change because of my husband's job. I actually didn't change it until 10 months after we got married, and I still have 2 credit cards with my maiden name on it.

[Bamps]

Congrats!! What a full plate you had there this summer. My son just got married a few weeks ago too and my new DIL just changed her name as well.