What’s in a name?
At first, it appears as an unsteady scrawl on the cover of a textbook or when called during roll call. As time goes on, it shows up at the header of your resume, printed on your driver’s license, and—if you’re fortunate—scribed on the title of a house.
However, certain individuals might alter that title without fully comprehending the consequences this choice could bring—whether positive or negative.
In the U.S., 80% of married women in heterosexual partnerships adopt their spouse’s last name, as reported by various studies.
study from Pew Research
Published last year, this trend has shown minimal indications of changing over the past few decades. However, younger individuals aged 18 to 49 were approximately two times more prone to retain their initial surname compared to those who are 50 years old and above.
As mentioned earlier, 73% of women below the age of 50 decided to adopt their spouse’s last name.
For those individuals, the choice is highly personal – frequently intertwined with career-related factors – according to Michael Bradicich, proprietor of MissNowMrs.com, which has assisted more than 400,000 brides throughout their name-change journey. Some approach this without much deliberation and enthusiastically, as Bradicich shared during his interview.
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Those who rely on their reputation often hesitate.
Ultimately, “their name is a component of their professional journey.”
The unforeseen expenses associated with altering your name
Individuals who have chosen to alter their name or possibly distinguish their “professional” identity from their legal one might encounter unforeseen obstacles, as reported by experts.
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For instance, female academics face challenges when consolidating their body of work across their maiden and married names—this can lead to potential loss of crucial funding, opportunities, or promotions. Similarly, individuals who hold credentials or licenses under prior names need to expedite administrative processes to continue working professionally. Additionally, those with significant online presence might suffer some erosion of their personal branding identity.
Additionally, there’s reputation and (hopefully) good will connected to the name that gets displayed on someone’s credential.
LinkedIn
Page or email byline—a reputation that might require significant time to restore.
Nevertheless, changing one’s last name has several advantages as well. It might help circumvent biases embedded in recruitment or application processes related to race, age, and gender, or provide an extra level of privacy to your personal affairs.
For those seeking a fresh beginning—whether due to personal circumstances or a shift in their professional trajectory—a name change can serve as a kind of online reboot. Additionally, it offers a chance to establish better connections with both coworkers and clients.
Moreover, the most crucial factor is this: An individual desires to alter their name purely because it brings them greater joy.
The experts
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mentioned that one point was crystal clear: There isn’t a correct or incorrect option. Nonetheless, an educated decision is better.
The effects of renaming oneself on professional women
Bala Chaudhary had never given much thought to her name in a professional sense—other than when she could add “Dr.” to the front of it—until she heard a male peer complaining about a fellow scientist changing their surname after marriage.
Chaudhary, who works in Dartmouth University’s environmental studies department, was at the time guided by a prominent female scientist whom she refers to as a “pioneer in the field.” During a visit to an external laboratory, Chaudhary overheard a male coworker expressing frustration about her mentor’s publications being listed under both her married and maiden names, which he found inconvenient for referencing purposes.
It was shocking to learn that a highly respected and brilliant scientist faced negative comments simply due to her name. Given how frequent this type of name change is among women, it felt as though, out of all the challenges women in science encounter, this would be one of the least significant issues,” Chaudhary explained.
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Chaudhary’s observation about facing significant pressure not to alter one’s last name aligns with research conducted by Pew. The study revealed that as a woman advances educationally, she becomes increasingly unlikely to modify her surname following marriage. Specifically, approximately 83% of women holding a high school diploma or lesser qualifications adopted their husband’s surnames upon marrying, whereas around 79% of those possessing a bachelor’s degree did so. Among individuals attaining postgraduate degrees, this percentage dropped even lower to 68%.
Name alterations and raising children
Changing one’s last name also signals a transformation in their personal life, which may lead to various presumptions. Chaudhary pointed out that women might prefer to avoid delving into these matters.
It is often thought that following marriage, a couple tends to desire starting a family—a trend supported by available statistics—to some extent setting off a widely discussed chain of events concerning women’s professional lives.
A
A 2023 study from the CDC
Over half (53%) of the births from 2015 to 2019 were to married women, while an additional approximately 25% happened for those in cohabitating relationships. According to the study conducted by Gladys M. Martinez, PhD, and Kimberly Daniels, PhD, another finding was that 20% of married women had their second child within two years following the birth of their first one.
Certainly, not every woman who gets married and changes her last name will have children: They are
becoming progressively more content with a DINK (dual income, no children) lifestyle
Or they may be without children not by their choosing. Nevertheless, the idea persists that others could wrongly assume about how her career would develop if this particular woman becomes a wife and, consequently, expected to become a future mother.
Chaudhary pointed out this reality through the necessity for women to contemplate the consequences of disclosing private information. He mentioned, “Many esteemed female scientist mentors I know wouldn’t disclose anything regarding their personal lives, as they constantly worried about how such revelations might affect their professional standing.”
Updating your driver’s license, passport, and other identification materials
Over his extensive experience assisting newly married women at MissNowMrs.com, Bradicich has observed that the depth of one’s career can affect how significant the issue of changing their names might be.
In 2006, Bradicich founded MissNowMrs.com when he observed a friend grappling with the extensive documentation required for changing their name. Over the past approximately twenty years, Bradicich and his team have assisted over 400,000 women facing similar challenges, noting a clear trend emerging from this experience.
“He clarified that for someone who is younger — perhaps still in college or hasn’t embarked on a substantial career yet — it essentially boils down to handling governmental paperwork. The key is ensuring these documents are completed accurately and follow the correct sequence, which primarily involves addressing administrative procedures.”
However, he went on, “When you enter the professional sphere, numerous additional factors come into play. You must update your name with payroll. This initiates a series of changes including modifications to corporate email addresses. Then comes managing professional certifications and licenses—everything needs to be updated consistently; otherwise, complications will arise. The extent of one’s professional journey significantly influences this.”
The effect from each experience likewise brings about an understanding of the implications that come with changing one’s name; however, people often still get surprised by this, as Bradicich pointed out.
He mentioned that this perspective is only prevalent among those at the very end of the professional spectrum who trade on their reputation, with their name being integral to their career.
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When you step back from that, I believe there isn’t much forethought. Individuals often dive right in.
The area often overlooked is during travel planning, where individuals initiate the process without contemplating the duration involved. This can lead to issues with travel documents, such as mismatched passports and driver’s licenses, causing significant complications.
What benefits can come from changing your surname? It offers a clean beginning.
A name alteration can essentially press “reset” in an perpetually connected digital landscape and also provide an extra shield of privacy, according to Jamie White, an Ireland-based life coach and business mentor.
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White, who has been invited to lecture at some of the leading institutions in his country like Trinity College and Dublin City University, is noticing more people employing their names strategically.
He stated, “In an era dominated by digital tracking, once someone reaches a professional level or has progressed in their career, they accumulate a substantial history. Therefore, adopting ‘new career, new name, new me’ can be highly beneficial as a form of online fresh start or what could be called a digital clean slate.”
This can be particularly handy for those seeking greater privacy on the internet. Consider, for instance, educators who wish to conceal their social media presence from curious students peering in.
Using a long-term perspective, changing the name might offer a workaround for the biases inadvertently integrated into educational and recruitment processes. For instance,
a 2023 research paper from the University of Michigan
Reviewing 30 million records revealed that students whose surnames fell within the latter half of the alphabet (from K to Z) received lower grades when assessed in alphabetical order compared to being evaluated through random grading methods.
Similarly, students whose names begin with letters from A to E were more likely to receive higher grades compared to the randomly selected group. Although the research indicates that this prejudice exerts a significant long-term impact on a student’s professional trajectory, additional obstacles have emerged within hiring systems.
An
ongoing study
Findings from King’s College London, which examines over 12,000 employment applications, indicate that international bias remains prevalent. The study showed that candidates with English-sounding names were about three times as likely to receive favorable responses for management positions compared to those with non-English names, receiving roughly 27% versus only around 11.3%, respectively.
Although altering practices to overcome such biases reveals significant flaws in hiring procedures, White has faced various (more favorable) tactical choices. The coach assists others in learning his trade and mentioned that distinguishing one’s legal and professional identity—as though it were a stage name—can prove highly beneficial.
“Coaching often involves being open and vulnerable; however, many individuals struggle with this authenticity within their current networks and friend groups,” White noted. “They usually rely on changing their names for support. Once they altered their names, it felt akin to breaking free—particularly among well-established professionals who created an entirely new digital persona to distance themselves from their previous lives.”
Should I change my last name after marriage?
In the end, the sole aspect that truly counts regarding a name change is whether the person desires it.
While individuals alter their names for numerous reasons, White suggested that the most straightforward method to reduce any misunderstandings in a professional environment stemming from external parties is to transparently communicate the choice.
It could be as straightforward as posting a reintroduction message on social platforms, or adding a line in your email signature notifying recipients about your potential username alteration.
He stated, “In business, interactions between individuals take place. People aren’t interested in maintaining rigid professional appearances and displays; they perceive such behaviors as cold, distant, and hard to engage with. They believe that genuine connections resonate most deeply. Therefore, when someone shares openly within what might typically be seen as an austere environment like commerce, over time this openness will attract others.”
“There isn’t a correct or incorrect response,” Bradicich reiterated. “It’s an intensely personal choice, yet one that you ought to share and deliberate upon with your loved ones, such as your family, significant other, or close friends.”
The needle is shifting universally as well, added Chaudhary—an essential discussion that has been overdue for a considerable time.
The ultimate feminist choice involves having total freedom of selection and being capable of altering this choice whenever desired,” the scholar stated. “When I was a student, the prevailing advice was, ‘Make up your mind now and stick with it.’ However, we ought to embrace adaptability.
What we’re seeing so far is that women are gathering and conversing both formally and informally. Personally, I’m part of several distinct Slack communities for female scientists…and the topic of changing names comes up frequently. Thus, the whispered information networks are functioning.
She noted that discussions among female scientists are taking place. The subsequent step involves incorporating this into mentoring programs. This means bringing these conversations into laboratories, including them in faculty meetings, as well as during search committee gatherings.
A variant of this tale was initially released on
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on
June 22, 2024.
The tale was initially showcased on
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