A lady that I recently talked with said she went with hyphenating her maiden name and her married name because she was already known in her area by her maiden name. So when they married, she just added the hyphen and her married name. So this way, everyone that knows her already can tell she married, rather than wondering who she is just going by her husband's last name. I'd never given this much thought before. Sounds good. Well thought out.
I work for one of the three main credit bureaus so let me just remind you that the more names you have the liklier your credit report will be screwed up. Unfortunately, people do not always apply for credit using the same name. For example, James Alan Smith, Jimmy Smith, James A. Smith etc. Each one of these will cause a new credit report to be formed instead of all your credit being reported in the same file. Also, the companies you do business with may leave off the beginning of the hyphentated last name and just use the one at the end. Anyway, my point is, always sign your name the same way when doing ANY legal business- especially if you are a junior or senior. It just saves trouble later.
When I married I took my maiden name as my middle name. I felt strongly about that as it is my father's name and now that he is gone I am so glad I did it. He once told me after I was married he knew I would keep it as I was so independent before and it made him happy.
It's not always necessary to hypenate your name if you marry. I was once told by a friend from Poland (the ethnicity of my last name) that I should be very proud of my name. On top of that, my sister-in-law has the exact same first and middle name as me! So when I married, I kept my maiden name and added my husband's, without hypenating. (Jane Smith Jones, for example). That way, my sister-in-law and I wouldn't have exactly the same name, and I could keep my maiden name that I was told I should be so proud of! Just a few weeks ago, I had to go to the DMV to change my license, and the lady behind the counter actually argued with me about my name, telling me it was hypenated since I added a name. I had to show her my social security card to prove to her it wasn't! Some people must not know that hyphenation is optional...! : )
I HAD CHILDREN FROM A PRIOR MARRIAGE AND THERE WAS SO MUCH CONFUSION WHEN I WOULD HAVE TO TALK TO SOMEONE IN REGARDS TO THEM THAT I FINALLY ADDED MY NAME FROM MY FORMER MARRIAGE(THERE LAST NAME) AND HYPHENATED MY LAST NAME ONTO IT
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