Hyphenated last name

You can change yours to whichever name you want. That has nothing to do if it's legit or not.

You need to ask a judge or inquire at a courthouse as I think it varies from state to state. Overall, I believe it is the father's last name that counts. For me this would be upsetting because I am keeping my maiden name and using my fiance's last name (his father's) with a hyphen. Three last names would be a little strange. Discuss with your fiance and tell him what you would prefer. I think he would be okay with it.

What Heather said, taking or not taking his name has no bearing on the legitimacy of your marriage. If you want to take on one of the two, you can do so. If you want to take the whole thing, you can do so. If you don't want to change your name, you can do so. You just can't change it to something random that can't be related back to the marriage -- like if he's Smith-Jones and you're Williams, you can't decide to be Robinson.

And welcome to WW! I hope you'll stick around and update your avatar (the rings) to ANY unique picture from Google we can more easily remember in the future. This post tells you how to do that and more: https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/welcome-to-the-weddingwire-forums-please-read-if-you-are-new/b433c40c1a62b96a.html

You can take whatever name you want or none of them.

You don't have to take his name at all, and the legitimacy of the marriage does not depend on a name change. If you choose to change to just one of his names, check with your state's Motor Vehicles Administration as to their rules. In theory, you should be able to change to whatever you want, but states vary in what name changes they will accept as a result of a marriage (without needing to go to court).

Thank you ladies! I did check with my local DMV and since both names are on his birth certificate I must take both of them.

View Quoted Comment Thanks Reanna for asking this. I am having the same issue and wanted to know as well. Mom name is going to be long. Lol

I just wanted to add to this to this since I'm facing this issue as well!! Apart from when legally necessary, he has always gone by his mother's last name, since it means the most to him - it is the name most meaningful to me, as well.

For future brides, BE SURE to contact whoever handles marriage licenses to make sure that taking just one portion of the last name is allowed!!! Wedding name change laws vary state to state.

Nevada - or at least Clark County - does not allow this! (And not going to lie, I had a bit of a mental break down when my expectation of this being rather seamless was shattered yesterday! Less than a month until the wedding, oh boy!) My only options there are to keep my maiden, take his hyphenated, or add my maiden name to an already hyphenated name! THREE NAMES! And all three of them VERY easily mispronounced and misspelled, the hilarity!!!

Thankfully, the state we live in, North Dakota, does allow for me to take just one name, so we will just handle the legal aspects of marriage through North Dakota and then hold our actual wedding and pretty "I do"'s in Vegas!