Well, I’m finally doing it…two weeks from today, I’m filing for divorce. This is what I want, no regrets about it at all. We haven’t even seen each other for close to four years now, so this is long past due.
The one problem I’m having is determining whether to keep my current last name or revert to my maiden name. At one point, I had decided to keep my current one, as I’m known professionally as “A. Smith”. I have several publications out , and, in the interest of science, it seems better to stay consistent, so that if anyone comes across one paper and wants to follow up and see what other papers I have, they can easily do so. However, I have a stalker situation going on, which is now making me reluctant to keep, or even to publish under, my current name. It wouldn’t be such an issue if I weren’t published, as I could then easily revert to my maiden name.
I’m planning on moving in the near future, in large part due to the stalker situation, and don’t want him to be able to trace me down. In science, all papers give the name and place of employment of the author, so that knowing my name, he could easily find where I’ve moved to by simply doing a web search if I publish again under my current name.
If I do revert back to my maiden name, how do I go about informing prospective employers of my publication history? I know it’s customary to list publications, abstracts of talks, poster sessions, etc., on resumes, but won’t it look odd to have all of these items written by “A. Smith” on a resume for “A. Jones”?
I’d imagine that a brief sentence explaining that they were ‘published under a different last name’ would be good enough. It’s not like you won’t be able to prove they’re your work.
I’m sure it won’t be too big of a deal. I’m sure that women who were single when they published have since gotten married and had to do the same explaining in reverse. A simple note in your cover letter should do the trick.
Just a note - when you start to call around to change your last name on stuff, be prepared. Most people, when they hear a women say “I need to change my last name on your records” will respond with “Oh, congratulations, did you just get married?” It’s kind of fun in a demented way to then hear them clam up when you say, “nope, went the other way.” An awkward silence usually follows.
Nah, I don’t think having kids should be a factor. My parents were always married, but my mom used her maiden name anyway. I never had any issues and to the contrary thought it was cool she maintained her separate identity.
Do what you feel is best for you maintaining your identity as you want it.
If you need to distance yourself from this guy, maybe going back to your maiden name is the right thing to do. I had a g/f who had been recently divorced after 14 years of marriage. She was doing her taxes and saw that even though she was married, she had never had her name changed to his officially, but it had never been an issue since theu filed jointly under his number. Long and short of it, she was headed down to the Social Security Office to get her name officially changed to her ex-husband’s last name, since that name was what she identified with.
Revert to your maiden name if you want. Just list the articles you wrote when married using your married name and if anyone asks why the difference say “I reverted to my maiden name when I got a divorce.” It isn’t as if divorces never occur.
Amberlei, are you trying to figure out IF you want to change from your married name back to your maiden name after your divorce is final, or HOW to do it? I’m not sure I can tell from the way you word your query and the answers the others here have offered. Obviously I’d say that whether or not you WANT to do it is your decision, but if you want to know HOW, all you have to do is ask your attorney to have it stated on your divorce order that you want to be able to legally go back to your maiden name. My divorce order says in the very last section, “…and it is further ORDERED that the plaintiff be allowed to resume her former name of Yersinia pestis.”
So by court order I was thereby entitled to go through the bureaucratic pain in the butt stuff I went through when I got married in the first place – only now instead of showing or sending around copies of the marriage license to prove the legality of the name to the social security office, DMV, bank, landlord, utilities/phone company, credit card companies and so on, I’ll have to go around showing and sending copies of the divorce decree to prove the legality of THAT name change. Which is why I haven’t gotten around to it yet :::::sigh::::: and I’ve been divorced for going on three years now. But it does make me feel better to know that I CAN…
Changing your name and having a stalker are two different subjects.
Go to the police and file a complaint against the stalker
I have written publications under my married name but two reasons prevented me from reverting to my maiden name.
1)I have kids. I wanted everyone to have the same last name
2)It is easier to find publications under the same name then a different name. You would have to open up a can of worms eachtime someone questions you and reveal you are divorced.
I didn’t want to have to hang out my dirty laundry everytime someone questioned my publications
