Well, GonzoGal and I are getting hitched in two years, and we need to figure out what to do about her name. Here’s the situation: She’s a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering. When she graduates, she wants to be a Professor. She’d really like to take my name, but she’s already published a few papers under her maiden name, and will publish several more before the wedding.
So, she’s been told that she should keep her name so that people will know her body of work in the field. This is very frustrating because she’d very much like to be Dr. Gonzo. She really doesn’t want to hyphenate either.
Anyone out there run into this conundrum or a similar one? What did you do? Any advice?
Can she continue to publish under her maiden name, but use the new name for everything else? like a pen name?
What about using her maiden name professionally and her new name for everthing else in life? (Is this even possible? Could she cash a paycheck if it used her old name, but her bank account used the new one? What does the IRS think about all this?)
As a not-yet-married freelance journalist, I have considered this question a lot.
Your fiance can legally change her name to yours, while still writing under her maiden name. Published work would bear the name she’s known for, while paychecks would have her married name. She can even put both names on the bank account if she wants to, so that she can cash a check no matter what name is on it.
You should check this, but I think the IRS uses Social Security numbers, not names, to identify taxpayers. Whether or not she changes her name, as long as she’s using the same number for tax purposes, there should be no problem.
No advice, but I went through the same thing. As it turns out, I won’t be publishing much more, so it was a non-issue.
I feel for her, though.
The thing is, on her CV she’ll be able to list everything, so it is not as if she will be shortchanged for credit among the people who count. She might want to professionally go by Sally Maiden Gonzo (no hyphen, but the maiden name as a conspicuous middle name) for the first few years so people realize that Sally Maiden and Sally Gonzo are really the same person. Eventually, she will publish enough under Sally Gonzo that it won’t matter and she can stop worrying about shoehorning the maiden in there.
As for using one name professionally and another elsewhere, I know a woman who has done this successfully and I will probably end up doing the same. As it is, right now I use my maiden name for most things like school and work (and I am still legally that name) but I use my husband’s last name for Junior League. I certainly answer to both. The IRS doesn’t give a rat’s ass as far as I can tell, as long as the SSN works. The only problem I run into is that my email sig file and my checks have my maiden name, so when I write checks or email to Junior League, there is some confusion. But nothing major. As for the bank, I put a copy of our marriage license on file so I would never have a problem depositing a check made out to me in my married name (which I occasionally get). That was what they recommended.
This is precisely what I have done. All of my writing–whether it’s short stories, articles, or lesson plans–is published under my maiden name so there is that historical continuity and recognition. Not that too many people are going to recognize my name. :o
I also changed my middle name to my maiden name…So, it’s Ruffian Maiden Married. (Not Maiden-Married, ugh–hyphenating these two names doesn’t work.)
Hmm… I would suggest that she publish under her maiden name more or less exclusively; switching names halfway through a career can be quite a pain. Searching back through the literature, it’d be easy to miss references due to the person’s name changing. On the other hand, as only a PhD student at this point, has she published much? If she wants to publish as Dr Gonzo, now is probably a good time to start, so that she gets as few publications under a different name as possible.
Howabout hyphenating? Or taking both: Ms Scrumption could become Mrs Scrumption-Booghelimer (or Mrs Hypatia Scrumption Booghelimer) and alphabetize the same way and often hyphens and spaces are treated the same.
I’ve known quite a few women who went by multiple last names. I’m not talking about hyphenating–I’m talking about using different names for different groups. One woman I worked with used her current husband’s name at work, but her older kids had a different father, and if school called, they asked for her by his name. Then there were friends of hers who knew her from still another marriage. She’d had four husbands in all, and was, over time, called by all four names depending on who was talking to her. Anyway, it was no problem.
I think most people understand some ambiguity about married women’s last names. Myself, I don’t see the point of changing at all, but if she really wants to take yours, I’d suggest she start using yours now, with hers as a “middle” name and then evenutally dropping the middle name. Or else always using the maiden name to publish, and using yours otherwise. As noted above, the government doesn’t much worry about things like that unless taxes aren’t paid, and for various reasons lots of women do things like that.
I too would take the Mrs. Maidenname Gonzo route. I’m thinking of the people years down the road who want to look up her research and might get confused if she switches surnames halfway through her career.
I plan to do this myself, because I hate my middle name anyway!
I have a friend who coincidently is also a Chemical Engineering PhD who is getting married next year. She plans to use her maiden name professionally and married name for everything else. I know a few women who have done this and it seems to work fine for them
MrsB publishes under her maiden name. In fact, since we’re from Quebec, that’s her only name.
It’s a dilemma that some women in my field, reporting, also have. The overwhelming majority use their maiden name. I know one woman who married, and then switched to using her married name-- but then got a divorce after 3 years, and switched back to her maiden name.
My sister didn’t change her name, but then she really didn’t want to. But the fact that her academic publications to that date were all under her maiden name was another reason to stick with it.
And it’s not just a matter of putting stuff on a CV. In this era of searchable databases, a person searching for other work by particular person will not hit on work done by “Jane Gomez” when she was “Jane Liebowitz.” If I really wanted to take my husband’s name in that situation, I think I’d go with a new professional name of “Jane Liebowitz Gomez,” all spelled out, no hyphen. That way, people hopefully will realize that you probably got married, and database hits will pull up all your work.
I also had publications under my maiden name before I got married, and I wasn’t terribly keen on completely giving up my maiden name, so I legally changed my name to Miss Bianca Maiden Married (dropping my hated middle name in the process, but obviously that’s not necessary).
I use my maiden name professionally, meaning on publications, at work, and at work-related functions like professional conferences. Outside of work, I use my married name. I rarely use both names at once because they don’t sound too great together. The only places where I use the full double-barreled name are on my bank account (so I can deposit checks made out to either name) and on my driver’s license (for ID purposes). I also used both names when I filled out the paycheck and tax forms in my university’s personnel office.
Having two names has worked out very well so far and doesn’t seem to confuse people too much, although before I got used to it, I kept saying ditzy-sounding things like “Hi, this is Miss Bianca [noticeable pause]” or “This is Miss Bianca Mai- – I mean Married.” After a few months, though, I started using the appropriate name automatically.
Also, it does make a difference for alphabetizing purposes if the two names are hyphenated or just have a space between them. “Maiden Married” gets alphabetized under “Married,” just as if “Maiden” were a middle name, and “Maiden-Married” gets alphabetized under “Maiden.”
As far as searching literature databases like PsycInfo or SSCI (the only ones I’m really familiar with), I think that if someone goes by “Maiden Married” on her publications and you search for “Maiden,” you won’t turn up the post-marriage publications because they’ll be stored under “Married” (with “Maiden” treated as a middle name and reduced to an initial). In fact, I’m not even sure a search for “Maiden” would turn up publications by “Maiden-Married.” I could be wrong, but it seems simplest to just continue publishing under the maiden name.
