Was anyone else sad to lose their last name?

I'm not changing it this time. I kept my married name in the divorce because we have kids. I will hyphenate it socially.

I actually had mixed feelings about keeping and dropping my last name. My last name is who I been for 35 years.
But in the end I decided to keep my middle and last name and add take my hubbys name so i have 4 names...lol all the more fun!! We both win!

My matron of honor felt that way. It took her like 8 months after her wedding to finally change her name and she cried when she did. I think it’s very common! If it weren’t, all brides would change their names, but there are so many people who choose to keep their name or hyphenate.

You don't have to change your name. I didn't and neither did my wife.

I would change it. I find it to be disrespectful ( just my personal opinion of course) and I'm more traditional

I always knew I would change my name to my FH's, and never thought just a whole lot about it. But now that it's just 8 days away, I am having a weird sense of loss for my name. I think it's normal. If you're hesitant on changing, just wait or don't do it at all! And of course, it can always be un-done.

Not sad, but I will feel like I'm missing something. It's who I have been for over 25 years and now I'll be going by something else. Just so strange.

I'm not doing hyphenated as we both have long Greek last names and that would be torture to spell out and pronounce.

I'm having a hard time deciding if I'll keep my maiden middle name, or change my middle name to my maiden last name!

There is nothing disrespectful about keeping your identity. My FH said he doesn't care if I change it or not because if I asked him to change his, he wouldn't want to, so it's not fair of him to expect me to change my name either.

View Quoted Comment I feel like I would cry just from looking at my parents during my wedding and realizing that we no longer share the same last name. I was raised with that last name and it connects me to them, so for that it hurts.

View Quoted Comment Haha a sense of a lpss... exactly my thoughts. Makes me feel empty inside. People know me by my last name. I don't want to fall away from my family.

I am excited because my FH and I are doing it together. We are combining our last names: taking the first 2 letters of his last name and the last three letters of my last name. To me, it is not a symbolism of me leaving my family to join his, it's us create our own family and legacy.

I feel sad about it as well. I'm very traditional, so I will be changing my last name. However, when I think about it, I like to remind myself that I'll always be a part of my family with or without the name.

In my case with my parents being divorced and remarried, half and step siblings, etc I already don't have the same last name as most of my family so I'm actually super excited to take FH's name.

That said, don't feel like you have to change it! There are so many options now (hyphenate, both change, 2 last names, etc)... It's not an all or nothing decision.

View Quoted Comment I didn't change my name. This is not disrespectful at all. What I find disrespectful is that it is assumed that the woman will change her name to her spouses no questions asked. Why would I be expected to give up my last name when my spouse is not expected to do the same? It's my identity and if he isn't changing his name then neither am I. And I have zero regrets. I love my name and it is MY name. It's 2018 and couples nowadays are making this choice based on what works for them, not some archaic patriarchal 'tradition'.

I like that it's no longer automatic that the bride/only one partner changes their last name. And, I don't think people should feel pressured to change their names if they don't want to.

I'll be changing mine, but I'm not really sad over it. The thing I'll miss most about mine is that it's shorter than FH's and that it shares 4 of the same letters as my first name, which is kind of cool (K, A, R, E, not in that order). But, I've been teased about it for my whole life, and won't be sad to leave it behind. It's also frequently misspelled and mispronounced.

Also, I'm excited to join FH's family, who are all really proud of their very-Irish last name.

I want to have the same last name as my future children so I'll be changing mine! Plus my soon to be step daughters already have his name so I'll fit right in

I won't feel sad to drop mine, but I totally understand why people do! I'm not attached to mine since it reminds me of my dad and we have a poor relationship. Maybe if it were different, I'd feel differently. But like PPs are saying, you could hyphenate or keep yours as a middle name.

View Quoted Comment I'm thinking of something similar. I'm the same age as you and when I was younger I never thought I'd care so much about losing my last name. Are you planning to use your maiden name as a second middle name or having two last names?

I have had my married last name for 13 years (my husband passed away) but now that I am getting remarried I am glad to change my name it's like starting a new chapter in my life the only issue is my last name wouldn't be the same as my kids