Name Change after Marriage Archives

Is Keeping Your Maiden Name a Huge Mistake?

Considering keeping your maiden name? In the controversial world of married name change there is much debate around whether a woman should change her name after marriage. In the whirlwind of debate there are the multiple choices of names that a married woman can opt to take.

Name change is a personal decision for every bride, and she should weigh all the factors that are important to her and her name now and in the future to avoid making a mistake that can last for decades.

Many women punt on the married name change decision and wait a few years or until they’re pregnant to make a choice. While that may take the pressure off as a newlywed, it intensifies the pressure into a 9 month block later in life. Consider how important it is to you to have the same name as your child or children.

Does it matter that you may need to explain your marital status and mis-matched names at various schools and social functions? Do you think your kids will feel less connected as a family if they have your spouse’s last name and you use your maiden name? Again, the choice is very much up to you and how you feel.

I recently read an article about a mother lamenting keeping her maiden name. It’s rare to have a window into another person’s feelings about their name and name-change choices, so I was intrigued. If you want to know why one mom feels that keeping her maiden name was a huge mistake, read Jill Simonian’s story. The main takeaway from her story is that “My name doesn’t match the people that are most important to me, which makes me sad, guilty, confused and scared.” Those are big emotions, so take a moment and make sure that you won’t feel similarly if you keep your maiden name.

If you do decide that changing your name after marriage is the right choice for you and your (future) family don’t waste 13 hours standing in long office lines. Use the MissNowMrs easy online name change service or app to go from Miss to Mrs. in a matter of minutes!

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5 Reasons to Take Your New Married Name in the New Year

Ready to take your new married name in the New Year? We’re twelve days into January, and sadly many newlyweds’ New Year’s resolutions are already falling by the wayside. Did you resolve to change your maiden name after getting married? That’s one resolution that should be easy to keep and there are many benefits to changing to your married name in the beginning of the year.

Take Advantage of Available Options – Not all states allow all variations of married name change (ex: Ohio doesn’t allow maiden to middle name change). If plan to change your name, the sooner you begin the transition, the more options you’ll have as most states make legislature changes in early spring. It would be terrible to decide upon a specific married last name combination and find out that you missed your chance in your state by a few weeks.

Travel – Thinking about booking a trip for Spring Break or over the summer? Now is the time to apply for a new passport in your married name. The State Department is taking ~5 weeks to issue new passports, and you’ll need your new passport number before you book your flights somewhere warm! The other reason to get a new passport now? You’ll get to keep track of all of your trips as a Mrs. instead of having them split between two books.

Taxes – No one wants to think about taxes, but changing your name in the beginning of the year will make filing taxes under your new name much simpler next year. After working a full year as a Mrs, your accountant will thank you and you won’t have to stress about which amounts were made under which name.

Employment Ease – Employers need to be notified of married name changes and if that notification comes in the new year, odds are in your favor that you’ll get prompt attention from HR, new business cards, email etc before everyone is bogged down with projects. Another pro: you’ll receive credit in your new name. As someone who received a president’s club trophy and trip in a hyphenated name (as HR guessed)…I really wish I had notified them of my new non-hyphenated last name in the New Year!

Now or Never – Name change is one of those life changes that fall into the now or never category. The sooner you start the married name change process the sooner it will be finished and you’ll be an official Mrs. The longer you wait, the more your maiden name gets attached to important things like leases, mortgages, degrees, etc. and the harder it becomes to make the switch to a new last name.

If your New Year’s resolution was to change your name, hopefully these five benefits give you the boost you need to start the process. MissNowMrs is an easy online name change service that will streamline the paperwork and pain from 13 hours into 30 minutes for $29.95. How’s that for a great deal and a way to ensure you check that particular resolution off your list?!

Ashlee Simpson’s Married Name Change

There’s nothing like a new year to spark newlyweds’ need to change to their new married names! Have you heard about Ashless Simpson’s married name change? Following her November nuptials with Evan Ross, Ashlee Simpson is changing her maiden name to the married name of Ross-Naess. Her husband, Evan’s legal last name is Naess, but he is know professionally by his mother’s last name of Ross. The family elected to combine both names with a hyphen and all have the same name.

While her sister, Jessica Simpson, was the first to announce wanting to change to her married name, Ashlee looks to be the Simpson making a new married name official in 2015. Mrs. Ross-Naess is typically a trend setter, so it will be interesting to see if her hyphenated last name increases the popularity of hyphenation with brides and newlyweds this year. Hyphenation was trending downwards as a name change option in 2014, as many women elect to take their maiden names as middle names and forgo the mouthful hyphenations can create.

Whether you’re a celebrity or not, 2015 is a great year to make the transition to Mrs. MissNowMrs.com is an easy online name change service & app that condense the 13 hour process into 30 minutes! It’s a newlywed’s best option. Unless you have personal assistants!

Did Mila Kunis Change Her Name to Mrs. Kutcher?!

Kutchers Name Change — Will Mila Kunis Change Her Name?

We all know that Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are engaged and have an adorable daughter together….BUT they may have tied the knot over the holidays! Ashton posted a Happy New Year message from the Kutchers photo on his Facebook recently (see above). If they’re sharing a last name one could speculate that they’re legally married.

At age 31, Mila wasn’t my first pick for stars changing their names in 2015. Statically, the older a bride is when she gets married, the more likely she is to keep her maiden name in some way. As women whose names are tied to their profession are less likely to change their names after marriage, Mila’s star status would skew her towards keeping her last name of Kunis. I would venture that if Mila legally changes her name after marrying Ashton, she would be Mrs. Mila Kunis Kutcher (with her maiden name as a middle name). Maiden to middle name change is a trend that is continuing to gain popularity with U.S. newlyweds, regardless of celebrity status.

Newlywed or nearlywed and considering changing your name? Play the Married Name Game and let their patent-pending algorithm determine your perfect married name!

The IRS 8822 Form: To File or Not to File

Do you know about the IRS 8822 form? Newlywed and exploring the idea of name change? Now is the perfect time to make the transition to Mrs.! If you file for your Social Security card and alert the Internal Revenue Service to your new name via the IRS 8822 form prior to December 31st, you can use your new married name on your taxes. No one wants to think about mundane things like taxes in the warm glow of newlywed bliss. But, taxes and impending tax season are a reality.

It’s free to file the IRS 8822 form. So, there is no reason to skip it when you change your name! The form title may read “Change of Address”, but if you read the fine print, it also serves as a notification form for name change. Is filing the IRS 8822 required? No, but we consider it a CYA form. You answer 7 questions and mail the form in, and that will ensure that the IRS knows of your new married name prior to tax season. The alternative is to not file the form and hope the Social Security Administration alerts the IRS to your new name.

If there is any confusion about your name, your tax returns will be held until the IRS sorts out the matter (and we all know how fast government offices are). So, when in doubt, file the free form! If you have questions about how to answer some of the IRS 8822 questions, which are tricky, you can always call or email the MissNowMrs name change experts.

Did you file the IRS 8822 when you changed your name? If you didn’t, did you run into any snafus during tax season? Let us know in a comment!