I was off to the social security office this morning to officially change my name from Julie Bream to Julie Fagan. Well, Julie Elizabeth Bream Fagan. Only eight months after we got married! I’m quite punctual.
It’s hard to believe that I’m now Julie E. B. Fagan. The E.B. cracks me up. I feel like the author of Charlotte’s Web.
I considered dropping “Elizabeth” but I just couldn’t ditch the middle name I’ve had my whole life and I wasn’t about to drop “Bream.” The woman at the social security office told me that middle names don’t mean much anyway, so I decided to keep it and have two middle names.
Ryan and my dad got a pretty good kick out of my new name when I called them and said they were now speaking to Julie E. B. Fagan. Maybe I should’ve combined Elizabeth and Bream… Elizaream? Breamabeth?
I think I’ve put off changing my name for so long because I wanted to feel 100 percent comfortable changing my name. I always knew I’d take Ryan’s last name, but no longer being Julie Bream was difficult for me to wrap my head around at first. I absolutely adore my family and love being connected to them. Of course our connection is deeper than sharing a last name and I really wanted to be connected to Ryan (and our future children) in that way, but it wasn’t a simple decision.
But now it’s official and I’m excited! I just have to wait for my new social security card to come in the mail and then head to the DMV (joy!) to get a new driver’s license.
Lunch
Lunch today was inspired by my meal from the Virgin Olive Market a couple of weeks ago.
I placed fresh mozzarella cheese on a sweet wheat Alternative Bagel and toasted it before topping the bagel with tomatoes and fresh spinach.
Strawberry banana Chobani Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries were served on the side of my bagelwich.
I am loving that all summer berries are on serious sale lately! They’re the candy of summer!
Question of the Afternoon
- Did you/Would you change your last name after marriage?
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I know what you mean!!!! SOOOOO HARD! I had to jump head first, being a teacher and all. I loved being Miss G and moving to Mrs. H and hearing it every single day all day long was really hard. Going from an independent woman to a married woman, Miss to Mrs. was something that I still can’t completely wrap my head around…. at it’s been a year!
I plan to change my name after my wedding in August. I’m a teacher though, & many of my students told me at the end of the year that they’ll still be calling me “Miss K.” next year!
I always imagined that i would change my last name after marriage, but now that i think about it, i really like my last name! I’m known for it, i’ve gotten so used to it, and i feel like my name has such a nice ring to it! haha : ) I’ve played around with the thought of hyphenating it, but they all seam to sound silly to me. Changing my last name would make me feel like a whole new person! How does it feel to live half of your life as “somebody else?” how intriguing..you get to be 2 people in your lifetime!! One thing I would love- coming up with a brand new signature..that’s always fun!
In the north Indian culture, all children are given their dad’s names as middle names – boy or girl. Then when you get married, you are supposed to take your husband’s name as your middle name. My fiance is south Indian, and they don’t play by the same rules. Therefore, I’ve decided to change the whole system around by dropping my dad’s name (kinda bummed by this) and turning my last name into my middle name and Vishnu’s last name as my own. Oh the confusion!!
First off, Charlotte’s Web was one of my favorite books growing up- loved it! As far as the name change, I’m pretty sure I will change mine. However the whole idea of changing your name is kind of odd, now that I think about it lol
Ooo…your new name sounds so classy!
I’m always saying I won’t change mine or I’ll have two last names, but who knows what I’ll actually do if I get married…
Great discussion! I’m married and took my husband’s last name and dropped my maiden name…I’m very traditional so it just felt right doing that….and Shayla Carin Lunsford Blumbergs is too loooooong!! haha 🙂
Breamabeth. i think that should be the name of your next pet. Seriously had me laughing!
I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do… I think i’m going to keep my middle name (Walker) and ditch my last name (Rice). My dad left me and my mom when I was little, so I’m not really attached to “Rice” as much as I am my mother’s maiden name–Walker. It kind of breaks my heart to think about, though… glad I have a few years before it all goes down.
I changed my name. It was important to my husband I and was happy to do it! I just kept my middle name and dropped my last name.
omg, yes! SUMMER berries really are like candy, I sure do eat them like they are 🙂 Love love love your blog girlie, I know you get so many comments (which is why I usually refrain from commenting even though I always read) but hopefully you’ll notice me and take note that I seriously LOVE your blog and personality:) keep those posts comin’ 🙂
I did the EXACT same thing you did. I’m Kelly M. P. Davis now. But I drop the M when I write my signature. I just couldn’t part with “Michelle” even if it’s kind of silent in my name now.
I was a Harvey before I was married and now I am a Sparrow. I was fine with changing my name and love having the last name Sparrow! 🙂
I did not change my name. My husband did not really have an opinion either way and did not think he should tell me what to do with my name. I’ve always felt like I wanted to keep my name, so I did. I think people should do what feels right for their family.
Considering that my last name is PAYNE… I can’t wait to get rid of the jokes that come along with it! Naw, it’s not so bad but I do think I will take my future hubby’s name!
I changed my last name immediately – even though it was such a hard change to make! I have always envisioned changing my name after I got married, but it was so difficult to do! In fact, it took me 6 months to change my voicemail message and my personal email is still in my maiden name!
too funny–i did the same thing when i got married–i’m Diane E.H. Watson, and the “E” is Elizabeth, too
Of course!! I don’t think I would ever consider NOT changing my name.
Congrats on the new official name!! That’s so exciting!!
Congrats on the name change Julie!! I have heard a lot of argument recently about women changing their names and even though some say it’s old fashioned I have never considered not changing my name. I will forever keep my last name though as it is just a hard thing to let go I think. I’ll probably be taking the same route as you, but I’m not engaged yet by a long shot so I think I have some time to ponder it 😉
I have never considered changing my name. It is just not an option, but I respect every point of view, so congratulations!
Ahhh, I debated for so long about what to do about my last name. Especially because I was going from a name I love to “Bacon”…no I’m not kidding. It also ended up taking me about 8 months to go change my name, and I only did it because I got a new job and had to have an updated license and SSC. Bummer. A couple months later, it’s still awkward to say and sign. However, I love my hubby and it was important to him…I’m sure it will grow on me eventually. 🙂
I would never change my name. To me, taking on a partners last name would feel like becoming their property. For women who are unsure, I’d recommend asking their partner to take their last name and see how they respond. Why should women be the ones to give up their name? As far as children, I feel that could be discussed later on or better yet I could give them two awesome last names that represent both their mother and father. But all things aside, I totally respect your decision Julie! 🙂
i couldn’t wait to take my husband’s last name and get rid of my maiden name. in my mind, that was my father’s name and since he had not been a part of my life since my senior year in high school, i really felt no ties to my last name. so, there was no question about whether i would change my name or not.
i’ve always loved my middle name and it was passed down from my grandmother. i knew i would rather keep her legacy rather than my father’s.
i kept my middle name and moved my maiden name to my 2nd middle name when i got married so i have 4 names also! i didn’t want to get rid of my maiden name because its very polish and i didn’t want to loose that. i never use it, or go by it, but its nice to know its still there on my social security card and drivers license 🙂
I am definetely going to change my name when I am married! Even though my relationship with my husband will be much deeper than a name, I still think sharing a last name produces a special connection. In my religion (Hinduism), it’s common to even change your first name so that the husband and wife’s initials match (all to do with astrology)! So for example, my sister got a whole new identity after marriage: from Shyamla Thadani, she became Karina Chattlani, which she 100% goes by now (although on Facebook she puts both with a hyphen 🙂 )!
I’ll be changing my name after my wedding next year. I like the sound of my current last name, Marques (pronounced: Mar-key) but I don’t have a very good relationship with my father, so I’m looking forward to no longer having that tie to his name. My Fiance, Ryan, and I actually met in 9th grade homeroom <3 I want to be close to him in every way and I feel like taking his name will be another way to do that. So next fall, I will be known as: Katelynn Ellen Averill =o)
Also, I do have a good relationship with my mom and I’m not losing any ties to her by changing my name because her first name is Ellen, which is my middle name-that I love and am definitely keeping =o)
Yay congrats on changing your name! I think I definitely will change it, I think it makes the whole thing more exciting. But I understand why people don’t, especially if you are extremely well known and changing your name would confuse people or just wouldn’t catch on at all….like the Kardashians! ha
I like you could not wrap my head around the fact of not being a “Walkup” any longer. Nor could I imagine not writing “Nichole” as my middle name. I of course wanted to take my husbands last name but wanted to be everything that I had always been. Now, when I get asked for my I.D. I always hear “Wow, you have a long name!” or “Is that really your name?” I proudly answer “Yes, my name is Megan N. W. Mathers”. I LOVE being all of those names!
I did not change my last name, I like it a lot and it’s a part of me. My husband and I are going to give our future children both of our last names as they are a part of both of us 🙂
i was so super excited to change my name becuase when it came to having to show my ID to anyone, i wanted my new name to be loud and clear.
funny though, SSN would not allow me to deviate my maiden name….here’s why i wanted to dump it. you see, maiden last name is Doran (pronounced Doren), my married name is Moran (pronounced Mor’an). almost spelled the same but pronounced totally different. so, now i am Jennifer Doran Moran….:)
When we got married in 2009, I got my name changed straight away, but it took over a year for it not to feel weird!
Even now, when places call out ‘Lucy Nash’, it still takes a few minutes to register :p
I’m late commenting on this one, but I wanted to because I also have 2 middle names! I was just married 2 months ago and didn’t want to drop my middle name(named for my dad) or my maiden. The SS office didn’t make a big deal about it, but the lady at the DMV thought it was the craziest thing in the world. I just put my maiden + new last name on the license!
I just got married on Sunday and am in a big hurry to change my name. Smith is sooo boring, and I’ve been using my middle name (Rose) as a last name professionally for years. Super excited to finally be a Millar!
I changed my name almost immediately after we got married last year! I felt like it made it really official =D
But it was a really hard decision to come to because it feels like your identity. I just had to realize though, that it didn’t make me a different person at all!
There are so many options now, but none that made sense to me. Maybe I should have kept it as a middle name though! haha, good idea… but I actually love the sound of my new name!
Also, we are planning to name our kid with my maiden name as a first name, which is really special to me 🙂
I love Virgin Olive Market! Yum, I will have to try that sandwich. It would be hard to drop my last name too… but I would for my future family with my (future) husband. 🙂
I love your post about changing your name! I recently got married and struggled with the decision, even though it was a no-brainer. I knew I would change the name, but still…I couldn’t drop the last name. So I changed my middle name to my maiden name and then took my husband’s last name.
Thanks for writing such a great blog! You’re an inspiration!
You’re lucky they let you keep both names! I kept my maiden name as my middle name too ( my original middle name was Elizabeth as well so I know how hard it would be to give it up!) .The lady at my SS office said that Elizabeth and Kindelin ( my maiden name) was too long to put on my SS card so I couldn’t keep it! I was gutted 🙁 Megan K Loy does have a nice ring to it though…