I changed my name upon marriage with some thought, but not tons of thought. It just seemed easier, a one time conversion. It was easier because I was picking up and moving to a new city with a new job so I could start fresh with a new name.

After working with the public for decades, I lose patience with the name changers because too many of them don’t seem to know the concept of surname, and what their surname is. One will say “my name is Mary Smith Jones” and I will say what is your surname? And they won’t be able to tell me if it is Smith or if it is Jones.

I’m not saying that’s true for everyone of course, but a percentage of the population doesn’t get it. Many people are thinking of their names as Catherine presents it, a last name, and a married name. That’s fine, you can call yourself whatever you like but what is your surname? Then, please be consistent in using that.

I honestly got the impression from one or two people that they wanted ME to determine their surnames.