Hi, I've been reading posts here for a while but I haven't posted anything until now because I have virtually no answers to offer and most of my questions have been answered by other posts. However, I do have one question that I cannot find a discussion about. I guess it's probably because I'm in an fairly abnormal situation in that I have my father's last name but I have never had any contact with him. Because of this I am contemplating changing my last name to my grandmother's maiden name. On one hand, changing it would probably make my mom happy because my middle name is in honor of my grandmother and so if I'm ditching that I could honor my grandmother with my last name instead. On the other hand, so much is going to change during this process that keeping something familiar and comfortable to me could be helpful. I would probably just change it except the first and middle names that I want to go with just happen to accidentally start with the same letters as my birth name so if I kept my last name I could keep my initials and email address and I feel like less change might be better. I'm hoping one of you guys who've gone through this might have some insight because at this point I just keep going back and forth and can't make up my mind. Thanks.

love to help but ultimately the final decision is up to you, personally I'm only changing my first and middle names cause I'd like to keep the family name going otherwise it dies with my dad, but my dad and i are close so not sure how that helps but yea. I'm also changing my middle name to my late grandfathers name.

I've had my name legally changed for a year now. I still regret not changing my last name. It doesn't mean much of anything to me, and frankly it's ugly. I don't know what in the world I'd have changed it to, but yeah.

I changed all three names, including my last, and found it wasn't that huge a deal. If you change your first name, any paperwork/records you have to fix will be the same as if you changed your last name at the same time, so there's no extra work in that sense, and doing everything in one big lump makes for an easier transition to those you know, as opposed to you deciding after a year or two that you really do need to change your last name, in which case you will have to update everything all over again and it will be another change for people to get used to.

That being said, you should really WANT to change your last name before doing so, otherwise you may end up regretting it. Really though, it's easy enough to change a name, and if you find you don't like your decision (whichever you go with) it's fairly easy to fix just by changing your name again.

If I change my name I'll change both and probably stick in a middle name as well.  I'm not close to my family, the name's a nightmare to get people to pronounce and spell properly, and I can barely remember how to pronounce it properly myself after spending years having it mispronounced everywhere I go.  I'd not change it to a name that's been in the family before, because there's no one that I really want to honour or anything, instead it'd change it to something that honoured one of my teachers, as he'd been closer to a father to me than my biological one ever had been and I didn't thank him enough at the time.

Quote from: Alex308 on July 03, 2012, 10:46:25 PM
I guess it's probably because I'm in an fairly abnormal situation in that I have my father's last name but I have never had any contact with him. Because of this I am contemplating changing my last name to my grandmother's maiden name.

This was almost exactly my situation.  I have very little contact with my dad and absolutely love my grandmother and her maiden name.  I decided to change all three--first, middle, last--and switched to my grandmother's maiden name.  She's proud and honored by it..my parents not so much.  It upset them for me to change it and change my middle name to something completely different.  But I love my name and can't imagine it any other way.

Do what feels right to you.  Is convenience more important than personal satisfaction with something you will have to live with everyday?

Thanks for everyone's input. It's just such a huge decision so I'm trying to really think about it and make sure I've thought about everything.

I would go with whatever decision you want to do, and that you feel wouldnt leave you with regret later.

Prior to transition, and nothing to do with transition, my surname had changed several times, and then just before I changed my first and middle name legally,my surname changed again. So, Im now on my 4th surname. However, over 3 years since my last name change, and all along, I knew Id want to change my surname again (this would be the first time its of my choice). I want to go back to the surname I was born with.
Im sick of changing names, and having the name to my identity flying all over the place.
   So, whatever you choose, make sure it is the surname you do want, and wont regret later.
   Its such a pain in the ass for things like CRBs/background checks :p And people getting to know you with this or that surname, and then changing it years later. It gets a pain.
So, the less changing, the better.

I've changed only my first name - my middle and last names are still the same (luckily I have a male middle name, it was my Dad's).  I will be changing my last name however once I am done with immigration and have my Aussie citizenship (first name change is okay - I know changing first and last would create issues, though). 

I've never had much of a relationship with my Dad and my maternal grandparents raised me.  I want to honour them by taking their last name.  I already use it on my Facebook page.