SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: Do Wedding Bells Cause Last Name Hell?

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008, 03:09 PM ET

Should you change your last name when you get married? Seems like a timely question for working women to ponder during these last few days of wedding-crazed June.

Having gone through the name-changing process, I can attest that it's a headache. From a professional standpoint, the switcheroo made life difficult -- at least temporarily -- from an e-mail standpoint, but eventually my co-workers and industry contacts in the publishing world caught on. And since we're going back 12 years, I had way fewer online accounts tied to my maiden name.

Indeed, I went cold turkey. Others, like health-policy analyst Leslie Levine, took it step-by-step, first using her maiden name as her middle name to help her network of contacts transition, she told the Associated Press. Another good tip: She asked her IT staff to create a bounce e-mail from her old name/address to her married name.

Another factor that comes into play: how much your reputation is tied into your name. As an editor, I wasn't concerned with a byline like my reporter colleagues. The tie-in to my identity wasn't as strong as, say, a consultant, saleswoman or lawyer with clients. Similarly, what if you work in the health-care industry with a long following of patients? Related, what if your name is part of your company's name? Pink magazine cites Tammy Huber-Wilkins, who "had already built a reputation as Dr. Huber [and] didn't want to lose her maiden name." She decided to hyphenate -- an increasingly popular option, according to Kelly Utt-Grubb, who runs NameCounsel, a service that helps customers make their name-change decision.

For some more views on whether you should or shouldn't change your name, read the comments that follow a recent post on ArizonaMoms.com, particularly the one from Lisa Schneider Cipriano.

Where do you stand on the matter -- to change or not to change? What has been your experience, professionally speaking? What else do working women need to consider?

And if you do decide to make the switch, better plan on taking a personal day to punch through this 16-point list, courtesy of About.com/Marriage, to update your information:

• Social Security Administration (you can do so online here)
• Driver's license
• Automobile registration and insurance
• Work related information
• Insurance policies
• Bank accounts
• Investment accounts
• Utility bills
• Post office
• Credit cards
• Passport
• Medical records
• Wills, legal documents
• Organization and church memberships
• Voter registration
• Landlord or mortgage company

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Previous Wednesday's Woman articles:
>> Meet Mytopia Co-Founder Galia Ben-Artzi
>> Hear Our Ringtones Roar
>> The Makings of a Smooth Maternity Leave
>> A Rocker Girl's Journey to Tech CEO
>> Why So Many Women Are Bolting From Tech
>> Meet TodaysMama CEO Rachael Herrscher

The Wednesday's Woman series is especially for today's community of hard-working, small-business women, featuring profiles, industry trends, research, work/life balance issues and other topics of interest. As always, send me your ideas.

Women in Business

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