Miss Pineapple, Pittsburgh
Age and Occupation: 24, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Student Affairs Administration
Engagement Date: August 4, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: April 14, 2008
Venue: The Rivers Club
About Me: Being a transplant from sunny south Florida I am learning to live with all four seasons while playing with our cat collective, line dancing, and doing a ton of DIY projects for our wedding (seriously, like a thousand)!
Early Name Change
April 28th, 2008 @ 3:25 pm by Miss Pineapple
I have never had a second thought about changing my maiden name. It is not very easy to pronounce, even I - after 24 years, slur the syllables. I always have to spell it out to strangers and my signature isn’t very pretty. Also, my brother is planning on having upwards of 7 children so I certainly don’t have to worry about passing it on. Using it as a middle or hyphenated name would make my full name epic in length.
Now Mr. Pineapple’s name is not much easier, but it is - a smidge. Plus I think that taking his name is very romantic. I am actually very excited and feel like I can take on a whole new identity.
With the death of my current name looming in the horizon (ok, maybe that is a bit dramatic) I have already begun planning the transition. One of the first things that came to mind was my domain name. Currently, it is www.MissPineappleMaidenName.com. So, I quickly snatched up www.MissPineappleNewName.com and MissPineappleNewName@gmail.com. I have even started receiving emails at the new address from new clients. Mr. Pineapple thinks this is a bit strange, but I don’t want to confuse people come October.
Now I know this is just a teeny tiny little detail, but it made my future life seem so much more real!
Has anyone else taken early steps to say goodbye to their maiden name?
36 Responses to “Early Name Change”
duh, I mean MissTiramisuNewLast of course… I’m confusing myself with this name change business already!
I am happy about taking a new last name, too! I am proud to take the name of my FH and start a new family. I also like the way my new name sounds.
In the town that I grew up there are massive numbers of people with my name but everywhere else they are few and far between. People always pronounce it incorrectly and it is very ethnic so people always say things like “Oh, you must be Italian.” While I’m proud of my dad’s heritage (we still have a lot of family in Italy) I am also proud of my Mom’s which is completely different from my dad’s (Her’s is much more diverse with her 4 grandparents being from differnet nations -Sweden, Scotland, France & Germany). My future last name is more generic and very hard to pinpoint where my family is from. Although still mispelled, it doesn’t evoke a particular culture. As an American of many cultures I love this. I love the fact that people see my FI as just American (although they take great pride in his mother’s polish roots, from the food to the jokes about themselves).
hehe, thanks for reminding me. I just made my new yahoo account! Though I have to keep remembering to check the old one every 3 months or so or it will close. I would hate for old friends or something not be able to find me.
I’m off to claim ErinSeaHisLastName@gmail.com immediately. Good idea ladies! Long before we were engaged we visited a Texas surf museum which was really cool and happened to have photos of my uncles and their friends in the 60s. There was a guest book to sign in and in a moment away I wrote an entry and signed it with The HisLastNames. He saw and grinned and called me Mrs. for the afternoon. It was fun.
I too snatched up anngoodbyeprettyshortname@gmail.com; however, I’m having anxiety issues about the whole thing. While I cannot wait to share a last name and be a Mr. and Mrs., I am the last generation of all girl cousins and my last name will be completely gone after us! Plus, I have to admit my last name is pretty cool (short and very Irish) and his name is not so short or Irish…in fact, it’s German (gasp, hee hee).
heh - my husband’s family name is rare enough that i was able to snag http://www.newlastname.com (before the wedding, naturally, domain names can go fast!). So now my email is melissa@newlastname.com!
On a different note, I was planning on changing my name from:
Melissa Mom’sMaiden OldLast to
Melissa OldLast NewLastName
Dad said to keep mom’s maiden name since it’s gone in the US (except some random dude in Alaska…we don’t know if he’s any relation). He basically said to take the ones that need to be carried on…
I decided to switch to gmail recently, so I did my initials and new last name. It confuses people, but I figured what’s the point in using my maiden name for only a few months then having to switch again!
I’m having a hard time with parting with my maiden name completely, so I think I will just now have two middle names a la:
Mrs. Hydrangea Middle Maiden New Last
My fiance’ actually set up my first name new last name email for me just after we were engaged. I thought it was adoringly sweet that he was showing me how excited he is about my name change. I am very excited about it myself.
I currently have a very unusual last name so I was SO disappointed when I went to snatch up MissJasmineNewLast@gmail.com and found that it was already taken along with all the other permutations I could think of. So I actually may just keep my old email address even though it uses part of my old/current last name.
I also created a new email address using my will-be name…I did so not long after the engagement…I am looking forward to dumping my old email address which is arandomnickname@gmail.com to one that actually uses my name!
I just made a new gmail account for my new last name too. I feel a little silly, as I’m still 6 months out, so it feels kinda like junior high and writing Mrs. Pengwen MyCrush’sLastName in my notebook. I guess the reality of it all hasn’t hit me yet.
I’m in grad school and still practice signing my new last name in all the different fonts I can think of when the lectures start getting a little dull!
you made me curious about gmail, and i just checked my own future name.
firstnamelastname, firstinitialmiddleinitiallastname, etc. are all taken. they only have suggestions for me with strange mixtures or misspellings of the names. darn.
melodicsighs1-
did you try adding a period (or two)? When I got my first gmail acct, I was able to get firstname.middleinitial.lastname at gmail
Yah, my firstnamenewlastname was taken too. I ended up doing newlastname.firstname and firstinitialmiddleinitialnewlastname. I’m not sure which I’ll use. I also have http://www.newlastname.com, so maybe I can use firstname@newlastname.com
My old last name was unusual, my new last name is very common, so now I can’t get sourceofjoyhislastname@gmail.com - I’m having to do sourceofjoy.maidennameinitial.hislastname@gmail.com!
But at least that works! I’ll miss my old last name because it was unique, but am looking forward to having his last name. It’s kinda funny b/c I’m going to share the same last name as a president’s wife!
When I signed up for gmail a couple of years ago I purposely used firstnamemiddlename@gmail.com so that I wouldn’t have to worry about changing it after getting married.
Yep, I definitely snagged the newlastname gmail address 
I grabbed my new gmail account a while ago too. It’s the one time I was thankful that my mom spelled my first name non-traditionally when I was born (it’s a pain for everything else in my life because I am constantly correcting people).
Now - does anyone know if there is a way to combine the old and new gmail accounts? I have a lot of archived e-mails on my old account that I would love to just combine into the new one, instead of keeping them separate.
Jaime08-
If you click on settings at the top right corner, there are options for connecting your accounts
Cgeniew - Thanks so much! I’ll put this tip somewhere safe until August!
The second that we got engaged, I went to gmail and opened a new account for angiepangieNewLastName@gmail.com. My friends all think I am insane but I’m going to spend the rest of my life with my new name and I want all the good emails that I can get!
I took very early steps! Shortly after I got engaged I got a new job (I worked on-air in TV) so when I started the new job I started using my “married” last name on the air but didn’t change it legally until I was actually married a year later. I adapted very quickly partly because the new name was sooo much easier to say and spell but also because I didn’t have any hang-ups about giving up my maiden name.
Definitely! My current gmail is first.lastname@gmail.com, but that format was snagged for the new name, so it was firstmiddleinitialnewlast@gmail.com - the real address is much shorter, thankfully. I definitely felt that I was doodling names back in Junior High, especially at around 8 months out, but it was a bit of a thrill to send my FI an email from that account.
The current name is often mispronounced and terrible to spell, so I’m not sad about losing it. The new one is a tiny bit tricky, but easier and a bit more elegant.
I am, however, keeping my current signature. Over the years, it has become abstract enough that I’m going to keep it, as I’m not sure how to sign with the new one.
I’m actually on the fence about changing my last name to his. I’m not a huge fan of my last name, and his is really rare and fun, but living in the south, everyone assumes it’s just My Role as a wife to take on HIS identity, and the forced-ness of it pisses me off. lol. HOWEVER…I did create an aol account using my first two initials and BOTH last names. Just in case.
I really like my last name and since it’s just my sister and left to carry on the name I get a little sad when I think about changing it 
But I really want to have the same last name as my FH so of course I will change it… I was thinking however to be AliCherri1 Middle Maiden New, which will make my name REALLY long, but I don’t care.
For my birthday I received several variations of my new name as a domain name. FullNameNewLastName.com and
NicknameNewLastName.com
My fiance has told me countless times that he doesn’t mind if I don’t take his last name. But I love that my name is going to go from a constantly mispronounced 7 letters to an easy to pronounce 4.
HA! I totally tried to snag trish.hislastname@gmail.com when we got engaged, but it was already taken, along with all the best permutations. So I’m keeping trish.maidenname@gmail.com…I would if I could but I can’t!
I guess I’m in the minority here when I admit to not wanting to change my last name? I always dreamed of being a “Mrs.” and having the same name as my husband when I was younger, but now that I’m engaged and it’s becoming reality I am scared and sad! My last name is only 4 letters and is pretty unique, so over the past few years I’ve realized how great it is to not have to share last names with strangers or have to constantly spell out or pronounce a difficult name. I also get lots of compliments on my last name… I guess it’s considered a fun last name, whatever that means. 
My fiance has a more complicated and longer Italian last name and a lot of the people in his own family don’t pronounce it correctly, never mind strangers! I get sad to think about losing the name I’ve had for 27 years. Also, unless my younger brother has children one day with our last name then my family name will end because my other cousins are girls and will likely change their names! I tossed around the idea of my fiance taking my last name but that didn’t go over too well, haha… 
I was actually inspired by this post to set up a new email account with my new name (not married until July, though, so I won’t use it until then.)
Slightly OT, but I wanted to share what my FI said the other day. I never thought I wouldn’t take his name, but my mom didn’t take my dad’s so I’m aware of the issue. I asked FI what he would have done if I wanted to keep my name, and he thought about and said it would probably bug him. Then he thought a little more and said if I were serious about wanting to keep mine, he’d change his name to mine. Which I wouldn’t even want him to do but it gave me warm fuzzies to know that he would have.
wow I am certainly not the only one, seeeee Mr. Pineapple
It’s a bummer that some of you were unable to get the email address that you wanted and crazy to think how much we identify with them. I remember a few years ago people were afraid to use their full names on aol.
Also, gmail is new compared to the rest of, well Earth, and it is amazing to see how it has caught on as well.
Don’t worry, Ms. P; I’m even crazier than most of the other posters. I snagged firstname.newlastname@gmail.com before we were even engaged! Those g-addresses go fast and I would have been so disappointed if I were unable to have one with my new last name. I won’t, however, use the address until we’re married–still more than a year away!
i changed my name recently, but don’t use mr. bee’s last name personally or professionally. maybe i’ll pop over to gmail to see if it’s available for fun….
i’m not changing my name and i’m happy to see at least a few brides are also not. agree with Ley that it sucks that it is so assumed that the woman will take on the man’s identity and not the other way around. sort of takes the romance out of it for me.
I don’t plan to change my name. My name feels very tied to my identity, I like it as it is, I’m NOT becoming a different person just by getting married, and I hate the word “Mrs.” Take me as I come, Mr. HL! He does want me to take his name, but has agreed to disagree on this point. Normally I’d do anything to make him happy but in this particular circumstance, the amount of unhappy it would make me is so much greater than the amount of happy it would make him.
I didn’t realize until recently, though, that in his native country women are legally required to either take their husband’s name completely or to add it after their maiden name — there’s no option not to change. And women only got the option to keep their maiden name at all a few years ago. So there’s a bit of a cultural difference at work here, and I think that I won’t rush to correct people I don’t know well if they address me by his name. And I’m definitely going to snag http://www.hislastname.com (luckily still available!), and would use H.L.@hislastname.com as a personal email address without hesitation. It’s the best I can do.
However, I’d almost be forced to keep my name professionally because his is impossible for Americans to pronounce, and I can absolutely see losing out on new clients because people are more likely to use professionals whose names they can say without fear/hesitation.
The one fear I have is traveling once we have kids. Mr. HL’s family lives abroad, so we travel often and I know if can be more difficult for moms who have different names than their kids. But people do it all the time, and I’m willing to carry around copies of the marriage license and birth certificates if necessary…and I’m training to be a lawyer, so hopefully that will be helpful if we ever run into a situation!
