Changing any part of your name is quite the process, I’m reposting to give you all the deets I’ve learned in the last 6 months.
Changing the last name sparked quite the conversation on C.R.A.F.T. facebook. From what I gather, there are 3 main camps on the issue:
- Take his last name
- Hyphenate names
- Keep your last name
I chose none of those options. I’m officially Jamie Smith Dorobek, 2 last names, no hyphen. I plan on only using Dorobek for the day to day. I’m here to tell you there are lots of ways to do the last name thing.
How to Change Your Last Name (and should you?)
If you’re new here, welcome! We got married, in our own special way, on 2-22-2012. Lots more details here, the wedding announcement and plan is here, and then Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 of the living room ceremony. You can find more on the wedding after math here: DIY thank you cards, how to change your last name, and the super simple wedding scrapbook.
Things I considered when deciding on a new last name
- I own a house in my maiden name, and I wanted that to be a part of my official name. With the hopes of avoiding any confusion.
- I worked at a 70% Hispanic high school where most last names were hyphenated. It often led to teacher confusion, and I decided I did not want this for my kids.
- I wanted our family to have one family name. Traveling abroad with a child, without your surname, means more paperwork. See more info here.
- Jamie Smith is super simple and easy to say and you rarely have to spell it out.
- Jamie Smith is super common. 13 Jamie Smith’s in Anthropolgie’s computer in Austin, TX alone.
- I wanted a simple personal email address. My previous email included numbers and an underscore.
- Andy wanted me to take his last name.
Here are the steps for changing anything about your name
- First, you need to change your name on your social security card.
- Wait until you receive your marriage license in the mail. For me, this took one month from the wedding date.
- Fill out the Social Security 5 form. Download and fill out the SS-5 form here. Your new card will be free.
- Bring this form and your original or certified copy of your marriage license to your local social security office. You can also mail in the forms. Find your local office here with your zip code.
- I received my new card about 3 weeks later.
Other documents that need to be updated with your new last name
- Passport
- Driver’s License
- Bank Accounts
- Credit Cards
- Employer- 401K, insurance
- Investment accounts
- Car insurance (You can’t do this until you have a DL with your new last name.)
- Airline Mileage Accounts- I had no idea what a pain in the butt this was going to be. And no one ever said I needed to do it, but you kind of have to. Obviously you don’t want to make brand hew accounts with your new name because then you would loose all of your previous miles. Here’s the low down on how to change your name with the individual airlines:
-United: Allows you to e-mail a copy of your marriage license to [email protected] (more info)
-American: Fax a copy of your marriage license to 817-963-7882
-Delta: Fax a copy of your marriage certificate to 404-773-1945
-Jet Blue: Call 1-800-538-2583 and they will change your name over the phone.
-Southwest: Send a copy of your marriage license to Rapid Rewards, P.O. Box 36657, Dallas, TX 75235.
More tips on changing your last name
- I blacked out our SSN’s on the marriage license to send to the airlines. They don’t need that info, and I didn’t feel comfortable with it floating around cyber space.
- Don’t forget to make each other the beneficiaries on all accounts
- Get 2 marriage licenses, it’s just handy to have an extra. You have to send one to the passport people.
There you have it, all you ever needed to know about changing your last name. Whahoo! It’s a lot of work. I still need to change my DL and work on a few airlines. Where are you in the name changing process? Or did you decide that name changing is not for you?
The social security lady told me that if in a year or two I am tired of having 2 last names I can change it to either one. So far, it is no big deal… but it has only been about 3 weeks. She made it sound like I can do anything I want with my name. I like that. What did you do? Are you happy with your decision? You can change it again whenever you want! What did you consider when changing (or not changing) your name? I’m very curious…
So if my birth certificate says branden my middle name r. Perkins if u want to spell the r out can I do so without changing my name
Oh, interesting! I was under the impression that the SS card, DL and passport all had to match! Thanks so much for the quick response!
Jamie, I just found your blog when searching on name change options in Texas – thank you for the post! (I’m in Houston, btw.) I’ve been married 6 months and hadn’t done anything with my name yet since I already had an international flight booked under MyLast for a trip we just completed. Now I’m struggling with the decision, but your solution is currently the most appealing to me! I’m curious with 1.5 years having passed, if you’re still loving having two last names or if you’ve had any logistical issues with it over time? I like the idea of having both and being able to use either name, but currently work in a job where my professional ID/name is required to match my legal name so if I have two lasts, I’ll have to use both at work (which also includes a large part of my social circle). I also wonder if you’ve been traveling since the change if you’ve had to use both or successfully used only one?
Best wishes for your upcoming delivery!!
Hi Ashley! It has been no big deal for me, BUT I rarely use Smith. I am Jamie Dorobek on my DL and passport so that’s how I travel. The only time I use Smith Dorobek is for taxes. I like that Smith is still part of my official name though 🙂 Hope that helps! Good luck and than you for the well wishes with baby!!
I’m getting married in August and plan on adding his last name to mine as you have done. I was excited to find your site because it doesn’t seem like having two last names is a very common right now and there isn’t a great deal of information on the internet.
Have you found it to be at all challenging having two last names yet? My last name now is eleven letters long, so adding his four letter name will be quite the duo of last names. I’m mostly curious as how you’ve found using both last names has gone. For example, I know all of my bank cards and accounts will need to have MyFirst MyLast HisLast but do you sign documents with both last names or just with Dorobek? My hope is to go by his last name socially and use his last name to sign information but know that both of my last names are present if any issues were to arise.
Thanks in advance for the advice!
I’ve had no problems so far! I sign Jamie Dorobek on everything.
I have a question for Jamie:
I’m a man taking my wife’s last name as a 2nd last name, like you did with your husband’s. My name is Matthew Simon Borg, and after we are married it will be Matthew Simon Downey Borg. In your experience, will I need to change my name with all of these different organizations if my 2nd last name will still be the same?
Thanks!
Matt, I am certainly no authority on name changing, but I’d guess you do need to officially change your name with all of the organizations.
When I got married in 1974, the law was you had to take the husband’s name, no and’s, if’s or but’s. So I happily did because my family name was like spelling out the alphabet! In 1981, the law changed so that everyone that got married kept her maiden name or pay $5000 for the change of name. So all legal documents were changed back to your maiden name ie contracts, health card, social insurance number, taxes, etc. but most people that got married prior to 1981 kept their married name for work purposes. It got to a point that when my mother’s friends were in the hospital, we would ask for Mrs.husbands name only to be told there was nobody under that name, you had to call her by her maiden name. These people were in their 80’s and when you know them most of your life as Mrs. Husbandsname it is quite confusing!!! On the other hand, having worked in a law office, it was easier for those married after 1981 to get divorced….all their papers were already in their maiden name!!! What upset me the most was being called Mrs. maiden name….I am not married to my father!!! and I am not a Miss so whoever thought up this law (must of been a man) didn’t think this through! As for the kids well the names are now coming through born with hyphen name ie smith-jones get married & have kids both parents name, now have smith-jones-walker-mcall. Talk about confusing!!!when does it stop!!
I’ve been married for 6 years now and kept my maiden name, but now that we have kids, I think I’m going to take his name, too, like you did, and have 2 last names. In the official sense, how does your name become alphabetized? By your first last name or your second?
I have been divorced for almost 4 years now. I was married to my first husband for 23 years. I have two kids with my first. I am contemplating keeping my ex’s last name just because I don’t want to go throught the hassle of changing it….plus I want to keep it cause its my sons last name. If I use Liisa Holte (kids’ last name) or Liisa Holte Dodd (new married name in a month. If I add Dodd do I still have to do all the legal changes or just use it. Confused on what is right.
I’m no expert… but I would say yes, you have to change it legally if you want to add Dodd and use it for things like taxes, DL, insurance…
Here everyone has 2 surnames (one from your father and one from your mother) and nobody changes their name when marries. So if my father is Pau Jané Giralt and my mother is Dolors Puig Batalla, I am Núria Jané Puig. The order of the surnames (father mother or mother father) is the only thing parents have to choose, and only for the first son (the order of your sons surnames have to be the same for all of them).
Hi. I took my hubby last name when we got marry. I was feeling a little sad to lose my maiden name, because I always liked my name & it’s part of my family name too. So my husband told me he would take my maiden name as his middle name, if I choose to take his last name. After 12 years & 2 kids later, both of our children have my maiden name as middle names. So as a family we all have my maiden as the middle & his as the last name.. It’s seem kinda silly, but it makes me feel a little important that part of who & where I come from is in part of my husband & children name too. 🙂
I didn’t change my name. I got married later in life (mid 30s) and had established myself in my career. Also, I have a unique last name. Pretty much anyone you meet in the US with my last name, I am related to so I didn’t want to lose my visible connection with my relatives. Finally, D didn’t care one way or the other. Many older relatives refer to us as Mr. & Mrs. D’s last name but we just laugh to ourselves and say that the apparently didn’t get the memo. 😀
My BF/secret husband used to threaten me by saying he would change his last name to Farts. Yes, Farts. Then insist that I took his new last name when we get married for realsies. (we are married for realsies, our family’s just don’t know. Almost to 7 years) Apparently I am dating/married a 12 year old.
Nikki Kelly Farts
That’s crazy that your families don’t know! Husbands are oh so funny 🙂
I debated about this for quite a while before I got married. For me, it boiled down to the fact that no one can pronounce, let alone spell, my maiden name, where as his last name is nice and easy. That being said, we’re coming up on our 7 year anniversary and I still have not changed my last name with social security or any of my pre-wedding credit cards. I go by his last name, and use it on my drivers license, bank accounts, debit card, and with my employer. I know I need to get around to changing my social security card one of these days so I can get a passport, but it just hasn’t been a priority. The only “problem” I’ve run in to so far is remembering to use my maiden name on my tax returns. The IRS returns them if you don’t file under the name on your social security card even if that isn’t the name you pay taxes under.
we got married 2 1/2 yrs ago and i still haven’t changed my costco card lol….i’ve done the rest of them slowly…it’s a process, but i love having my husband’s last name!
My experience is the hyphen always complicates things! I have run into countless problems in databases and computer systems that will not recognize the hyphen! Then I have to call customer service and figure out if I am under the first name, the second name, both names squished together with no spaces (which often means only a partial second name due to # of letters limits), or a space between both names (again, often only partial second). I am in the process of changing to a single last name (in my case, my husband’s name). Social Security was a breeze. Just went in and said I wanted to drop the other name and it was no problem. I have only gotten that far with the changes involving the government entities. My university has already said I need a certified court document, so I might have to bite the bullet and pay for the name change process through the courts in order to get everything switched before my graduation in May!
You shouldn’t have to pay for a name change as long as you have a marriage license, that’s a certified court document.
You know, now that I know they allow non-hyphenated last names, I think I’m going to have the kids have that. Are you allowed to go by Smith, Dorobek, and/or Smith Dorobek as you please?
I’m personally not changing my last name, but I would still consider myself Mrs. [his last name]
I think so 🙂 At the moment, I really do use both since I still had plane tickets, passport, credit cards, etc with Smith… I’m in the process of changing all day to day things to Jamie Dorobek.
Nice! Thanks for sharing this info. 🙂
jumping in to say that my kids all have two last names (mine then his, no hyphen), and it’s never been much of a problem. Both names are long and hardish to spell, so I do spend a lot of time spelling them for people, but I was used to that already from just having my name :). Oldest is twelve now, and over time it’s worked out that mostly my name gets dropped and they use just my husband’s name (so the last last name) for everyday use.
haha–jumping in a year and a half late, I see…just saw this on pinterest and followed it over 🙂
you can change your name anytime to whatever you want. I walked into a SS office (before 9/11) and just said “This is what I’m calling myself now” and the lady changed it. Drivers’ license won’t change it without a court order, but every other document took it. My house, my car, my checkbook, my credit cards are all in my second name (which was in no way like the first name.) When I got married, they used my first name, annoying, which confused all the guests hahaha. My medical records are under a combination of both names because the registrar lady freaked out and tried to put both in at once. When I enter contests, I use my first name so they can’t disqualify me. I have to fly under my first name. I’m getting a passport soon, we will see what happens there…. I could go to court and get it all legally changed and probably will at some point; otherwise, when I die, good luck figuring out all the legalities haha (wonder how The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Who Is Now Currently Known As Prince Again did it.)
I agree! You're a lucky lady!
I was always on the fence about it. I had planned to keep my maiden name if I was published in it… but, I wasn't yet so I went ahead and took my husband's name. I like it now… and, am published with it. 🙂 But, I have friends who both love their names and kept them in the beginning. As they are now thinking about kiddos they have decided to both change their names. One has the last name of Ogle and the other of Stevens. Now they are the Stogles. It fits them completely. It is sort of a neat thought too taking parts of two families and creating a new one!
I kept my name, and I'd never do anything differently. We're as much of a family and just as married and committed as anyone who changes their name. I was willing to consider taking his name if he wanted me to, but when I asked him he said "I don't really care, it's your name and your decision, do whatever it is that you're comfortable with". That clinched it for me! As of right now we're not really thinking about kids, but if we did have kids I'd probably prefer them to get my last name (hey, I'm doing all the work growing them!) but we'll probably default to his so I don't have to hear it from our families. I do get called Mrs. Hislastname a lot, especially by older relatives, but that's whatever. I don't bother correcting them because they do know I didn't change it, they're just being stubborn 😉 I prefer to go by Ms. mylastname. Ideally I would have loved for us to pick our own last name together, something new, but he didn't want to go through the hassle of changing his name (go figure!).
It's nice that we can all do whatever we want and whatever works for us and our fams. I guess the plus for women is we have a choice, men don't really have a choice they always keep there name even if it stinks 🙂
I pushed for Andy taking Smith too 🙂 It's so simple… no more spelling out D as in Dog, O as in Oscar, R as in Ralph, blah blah! Seemed like a good plan to me 🙂 He wasn't feeling it.
Thanks for posting this! I have the wonderful privilege of marrying my man soon. It has weighed heavy on my heart about what to do with my name.
I LOVE my last name- Zufall. It's unique, it's who I've been for 20 years, it's my family, it's my past. (With this generation our name will end because there were no men to carry the name along for us!) I also want to take my husband's name out of tradition, honor, and respect for him and his family.
I think the resolution I came up with is to use my maiden name as my middle name, like you! That way I can still have both, but not be confusing like hyphenations can cause! 🙂
Who says it has to end, I knew two guys that changed their last names to their wives last name, so it will carry on.
Our kids will have Dorobek… You do have a cool last name!
You can do whatever you want whenever you're ready 🙂
Wow! That does sound crazy! My legal name is 4 names now. My lady said I could do whatever I wanted too… she told me I could add another middle name if I wanted! I'm happy it all worked out.