What if you want to use both your maiden and your husband's surnames?

I've been reading that when I get married I have a choice of either keeping my maiden name or using my husband's surname, but for anything else, such as hyphenating both names or using my maiden name as my middle name, I have to use something called a deed poll, and that is difficult (maybe impossible?)  for a non-citizen to do this, and that a name change via deed poll would not be acceptable for a passport.

I want to take my husband's last name, but I don't want to completely lose my maiden name. I will be almost 40 years old when I marry and I have a long professional history and lots of pre-wedding life experience that I don't want to symbolically disappear.  I would like to have a choice of using either my maiden name or my husband's name, depending on the situation. So for example, I would use my maiden name on my CV, and my passport would have a hyphenated name so that an employer checking my  passport for my identity and my ability to work legally would see my maiden name on the passport.

Does anybody have any more information on this?

Sweet,

I kept my maiden name when I got married, for professional reasons as well as personal reasons concerning maintaining a degree of independence (I never wanted to be "Mrs. So-and-So," identifiable only by my subsidiary link to my husband). But to simplify things, if Andrew (my husband) and I make hotel or restaurant reservations, we do so under his name, which is more easily remembered than mine, and easier to spell. I suggest you do the same--it doesn't have to be a big deal.

You can only have one legal name but you can call yourself whatever you want. So your name could legally be Mrs Bloggs but you could continue to be known professionally as Ms Blogette.  When my boss's wife came to work for us she reverted to using her maiden name at work but she is still legally Mrs X. NB:  Anyone can change their name by deed poll, there is no reason why a non-citizen cannot do this.

In a former marriage, I felt exactly the same way as you sweetpeach. So I decided to hyphenate my maiden and married names.

Within the first year, I deeply regretted it. LOADS of reasons, but the ones I recall:

- it was too long to write out all the time (and not counting the hyphen, it was ONLY 8 letters!)
- when my son was born, people were confused as to what to call him (was his last name hyphenated too? people wanted to do the right thing, but it only confounded)
- my doctor files were always misplaced...and I think it got so ridiculous that one vital file may have been thrown out (you see, they had filing people in and out of the office all the time, different people. Was it under my maiden? Was it under my married? No one could ever find my files after they'd been put away...doctor, dentist...no one)
- being introduced was awkward...the name's just too difficult to roll off and still sound cool, but again, everyone wanted to do the right thing, and after a few miserable tries, they all ended up just not introducing me to people
- no one could remember which name came first
- it was odd enough for people to look at me like I'd grown a second nose (why couldn't I 'just be conventional?' was in their thoughts)
- when I divorced, having to tack THAT name onto my precious maiden name each and every signature...it just really irked me. A constant reminder that in a bizarre way I am still linked to this man.

I hated hated hated that hyphenated name. So when I remarried, I knew I wanted to take on my husband's name. Afterall, they could never change the person I am inside. A name is something convenient people call you. It's not a label of who you are.

But...this is my own experience. I can't say the same for anyone else out there.

i am still have  my  maiden name  on my passport..  i have my husband's  name on the visa part of it..  my bank statements are  my husband's  name..  it reallty depends.. my credit cards  still have my maiden name..  in the end you can tell people what you want to be called...  on our marriage license  i took his name legally..  i had  heard  so  many  stories about all the  mishaps that cAN   occur.. the main thing  is when you have kids..  what  a  confusion for all.. 

If you want to change your name so that it's 'legal' for the US and for a US passport, check out number 7.  I had a Stat Dec done at a Citizen's Advice Bureau for about £15.

i use my maiden name as my middle name now, and it's on everything as a full name.  First name Maiden Name New Surname.

So much easier that way......i need to get a few things changed, but things like our bank accounts, my NI card, stuff like that have my full name as above.

I dropped my 'born' middlename which was sad, but not the end of the world.

If you want to change your name so that it's 'legal' for the US and for a US passport, check out number 7. I had a Stat Dec done at a Citizen's Advice Bureau for about £15.

I second this - this is how I changed my sons' last name (which had been my maiden name) to match my new married name.  The US Embassy takes Stat Decs to change US passports.

I had mine done at the local Magistrates Court and it cost £6 each.

Now that you mention it Peedal, I do think the cost was something like £5.  I do remember it was dead cheap.

Much cheaper than it would have been to do it in the US!

Ugh! This is driving me insane, too. I could write an essay on it. I'm supposed to be hyphenating but have yet to do more than change a couple bills to my new name (and we got married in October). 

BTW - not that anyone asked - but I dropped my maiden name altogether.  It's gone.  My legal name is Firstname Middlename Marriedname.  Maiden name is GONE.

Ditto

i would have, but i'm the last Nicholson.
Had to keep it!

The day I had my boys' names changed from my maiden name to my married name was the same exact day my brother's son was born.  Very strange that - because my boys had been the only ones with my father's name as well - but the day that changed, there was another little boy to take up the name and pass it on.

Now my boys get to pass on my husband's family name!