Skip to main content

Post content has been hidden

To unblock this content, please click here

Lisa
Just Said Yes October 2021

Last Name Change... Hyphenate or Not?

Lisa, on September 20, 2019 at 12:29 PM Posted in Etiquette and Advice 0 8

Hello!

I'm wondering, when I get married, how I should go about changing my last name... I'm with another woman, and we both want to have each others last names. So we would like to know possibly what the typical last name etiquette would be for us, especially us being both women.

1) Do we hyphenate, or not? (i.e. Smith-Johnson or Smith Johnson)

2) What order should the names go in? Do we do the same order or would it be silly if we both had them in different order? (i.e. Mrs. Jane Smith(-)Johnson and Mrs. Sue Johnson(-)Smith)

I'm hoping someone may have a little insight.. just so I have an idea of what may be proper or if it's something more so we should feel to choose ourselves, and what are the benefits/downsides to having the names hyphenated or not. Thank you!

8 Comments

Latest activity by Christine, on September 20, 2019 at 7:30 PM
  • Amber
    Master February 2020
    Amber ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content

    I would say yes to hyphenating unless you're going to have one as your middle names and one as your last names (a friend of mine and her wife-to-be are going that route!), but I definitely think they should be in the same order. If they were a different order, I don't think it would really be having the same last name lol. But that's just my opinion!

    • Reply
  • Lisa
    Just Said Yes October 2021
    Lisa ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content
    View Quoted Comment

    I was thinking the same thing! I'd definitely want them to be in the same order or it might get too confusing. We both love our middle names so I think we will just end up having obnoxiously long names... Which we are okay with! Lol.. Thank you for your input! I appreciate it!

    • Reply
  • Cher Horowitz
    Master December 2019
    Cher Horowitz ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content

    I considered hyphenation, but I've researched a lot about it and found that it can cause lots of headaches! Just something to consider. I found this really helpful article on Bustle

    https://www.bustle.com/articles/118071-7-things-that-happen-when-you-hyphenate-your-last-name

    • Reply
  • idosoon
    Devoted February 2020
    idosoon ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content
    View Quoted Comment

    Random but that article annoyed me lol. The "reasons" were comical and had a one-sided tone.

    • Reply
  • Ivy ORP
    VIP October 2019
    Ivy ORP ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content

    I can only speak from my own experience here, we will be hyphenating. We went back and forth on which name first and not only did I prefer her name first, but it ended up being alphabetical and since she's older I used that as another excuse to have my name last. It really can be that easy if you can't decide. We definitely wanted our names to be in the same order. That was very important to us. There are no real rules though as long as you both agree.

    • Reply
  • idosoon
    Devoted February 2020
    idosoon ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content

    I think if you both hyphenate, you should both have the same order but then that means one of you will technically give up your name... not sure how you would decide that.


    is no hyphen a real thing? I always thought legally it was hyphenated but you can choose actually use it (or not) at your discretion.

    • Reply
  • Lisa
    Just Said Yes October 2021
    Lisa ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content
    View Quoted Comment
    I read online that if you hyphenate it’s one last name and you must use it in full each time, if you don’t it’s two and one can be dropped at any time and you don’t HAVE to use both last names. But I think we may do no hyphen and same order! Might make legs docs a little easier.
    • Reply
  • Christine
    Expert September 2020
    Christine ·
    • Flag
    • Hide content

    My cousin and his husband hyphenated. They each have the same order and chose it based on what sounded best. You can do whatever order you'd like, just see what sounds best! My FH and I are each keeping our last names but are planning to hyphenate our future children's names, and we're basing the order around how it sounds (one of our last names starts with an S and the other ends with an S, so we're planning to put the name that starts with an S first so that it doesn't get garbled together).

    • Reply

You voted for . Add a comment 👇

×


WeddingWire celebrates love ...and so does everyone on our site! Learn more

Rockstars

  • D
    Getting married in 07/03/2025

Groups

WeddingWire article topics