Should I take my husband's last name?

When entering into an official marriage, any girl must decide for herself an important question: to change her last name or not?

Twenty years ago, such a problem simply did not exist, but morals have become less strict over time and society no longer casts sidelong glances at a wife who does not bear her husband’s surname.

If the future wife is ready to take her husband's surname, then it is necessary to go through a number of bureaucratic procedures and this must be done the following month after the marriage registration.

What kind of bureaucratic procedures are these? A girl must contact the authorized authorities in order to change documents such as a citizen's passport, foreign passport, pension certificate, TIN, and this is not the entire list.

If the future wife studies or owns any kind of property, the documents confirming this fact will also have to be replaced. Failure to fulfill this condition can result in a fine, which is not very pleasant, especially after the wedding.

Be sure to think about this issue if you have planned a wedding trip abroad. With different surnames in the documents, the bride will simply not be allowed to go abroad, so it is necessary to find out everything and plan it clearly.

If for some reason the bride refuses to bear her husband’s surname, this may cause misunderstanding and even discontent on the part of the husband’s relatives.

It would be good if the husband himself accepted this fact and did not argue with the intractable bride, otherwise this issue could cause such a quarrel between the newlyweds that until they come to an agreement, the wedding would have to be postponed.

Problems may also arise when children are born. An already established bride may not want to give her husband's surname to their children, and it is unlikely that a man will accept this fact with understanding. After all, he is the one who continues the family line, this has been the case since ancient times. And the grown-up children may also have problems because of this.

There are cases when the future bride is famous, and her surname is a kind of trademark, in which case it is more appropriate to keep the previous surname, but recently there have been more frequent cases when such brides took a double surname or only the husband's surname, but continued their activities under the previous pseudonym.

Until the marriage is formalized, it is worth taking care of these issues in advance. You should not give your other half an ultimatum directly, it is best to clarify this fact with leading questions as you communicate, perhaps in your particular case such problems will not arise.

Otherwise, it is worth listening to all the arguments of your other half and only then make a decision. In any situation, loving people will always be able to agree, and for those who could not. Perhaps, it is not worth getting married.

Have a successful family life!

We previously reported on the reasons for losing interest in dating .