Last names........which do you go by?

This discussion came up in the office today..........if never married, do you plan on taking your future husbands last name? If divorced, did you take back your maiden name if you had taken his name?

For me, I went back to my maiden name, but not till like 3 years after my divorce. I just got tired of not being me, so I hired a lawyer and had it changed. When I married Jerry, I proudly took his last name.........

I never changed mine when I got married, so I still go by my maiden name.

I kept my married name when i got divorced. I didnt want a different second name to my daughter. Too much faff anyway, changing all my documents over to maidan name

I'm just now trying to figure out how to change my last name from my maiden to my husband's last name. Then again, I only just got married, lol.

I am not married, but I will definitely be taking my future husband's name. Although my sister wants to keep the family last name because our family is all girls.

Iwill be taking my future husband's last name. If we divorced I am not sure if I would take my maiden name back or keep my married name.

Took my husband last name when we married. I'm not sure what I do if we were to divorce. I love my maiden name.

I changed to my husband's last name because we want to have children (at some point many years from now) and I don't want them to have a different last name than either me or my husband. I also wasn't well established professionally with my maiden name, so I didn't feel the need to keep it. It's now my middle name.

If we got divorced I am pretty sure I would go back to using my maiden, but then again my parents have been divorced for almost 10 years and my mom is still using my dad's last name b/c everyone knows her as his last name (they were married for 27 years). She owns her own business under her married name and just hasn't felt the urge to change it.

I took my maiden name as my middle name!

If his last name didn't suit mine then No, otherwise maybe, but i'm an only child so my mum would be disappointed if I didn't carry it on.

When I got married I took my ex's last name, but then when we divorced I went back to my maiden, if i ever get married again I will most likely not change my name because boy is it a pain in the patootey!

I intend to take J's last name when we get married, but still use my maiden name for my writing. I like my last name -- my sister and I will be the last to have it, unless she keeps her maiden name and has kids -- but I like his name, too, and his family actually has a monument in their name in his hometown, which is pretty darned cool! The only drawback is that nobody can ever figured out how to spell his last name, whereas mine is short, sweet and a somewhat common English word.

Of my married friends, there are a few different things. One friend couldn't be bothered to change her name when she got married; it wasn't a personal statement on her part, she just didn't want to do the paperwork! Another friend changed her name when she got married, but kept her ex-husband's name when they got divorced, because his name was easier to spell and say (4 letters versus more than 10). Finally, another friend hyphenated his name and his wife's name, because she was adopted and she felt that her last name was the first gift her adoptive parents gave her -- she didn't want to give up that gift. His family was very traditional, though, and they wouldn't have understood if he took her name (he would have been fine with it, himself); they decided they'd both hyphenate their names, for now, and see how that feels -- they can always change things in the future, if they want to.

Kept my X's name after the divorce for 2 reasons - 1) we had kids and I thought it would be less confusing for everyone especially them and 2) His last name is wayyyyy better than my maiden name

Rob and I live common law so I still have my name. If we married, I would still keep my name. I do things that suit me, not necessarily by tradition.

I am not married, so I am still going by my maiden name . When I do get married though, I am definitely taking my husband's last name! I can't wait I will have a "normal" last name - People ALWAYS screw up my last name- it's soooooooooo annoying! I can't wait to get married and change it / I'm also very traditional and look foward to starting a new family and life with my future hubby....so taking on his name is something very special to me that I look foward to. And I have no issues about "loosing my identity" by taking on a new last name- I know who I am, I know what kind of woman I am and where I came from- I don't need my maiden name to vouch that so that I won't "loose myself"....I think you should know who you are before you get married - keeping or changing a last name makes no difference on who you are or your identity. For me, I look foward to taking on my future husbands last name becase to me that marks the start of a new, joint life together by having the same last name and all. It doesn't matter to some, but to me, it really does I will definitely be taking on my husbands last name whenever I marry. Also, I won't get rid of my middle name and use my madien name in its place- that's just not for me. I plan on keeping my first and middle name and changing my last name

Depends how ugly his name is!

When I got married, I took DH last name. I personally dont know of anyone that has kept their maiden name. If(god for bid) I ever get divorced, more than likely I will keep his name, but not sure.

I definetely will take Chad's last name- or whoever I marry- over my maiden name. I'm not a big fan of my name as it is now although I could deal with it if I had to

I think even if I married someone that had a horrible last name I would probably take it anyway. I never really have given it that much thought since Chad's last name is King and that's easy... but it just seems like the right thing to do if you're getting married

Maybe if I found out my new last name would be Hufflefardenertman or something along those lines I would reconsider

I had planned to keep my maiden name, or to hypenate it...but I ended up taking Pat's name. My stepson had a MAJOR fit when he found out I wasn't planning to change it. It was just really, really important to him that we all have the same name. So I changed it.