That's not my name. My name is...

[addedentry]

Owen McKnight. Except for a stage whisper of "Is that legal?" when the registrar announced us, no one has expressed that much surprise at my taking j4's name. A chap might almost be disappointed!

I'm Owen Massey McKnight in full. Instead of a double surname as rmc28 chose, I've made my old surname my new middle name. The idea was to keep my professional

Comments

[taimatsu]

J told me the plan when I asked in email shortly before the wedding :) I heartily approve, and am interested to discover the lack of expensive hoops to jump through for this.

[hatmandu]

If anyone questions your legality, just say you had papers drawn up by Massey McKnight - sounds very authoritative!

This diy approach offers great promise for setting up false identities :)

[addedentry]

Very good!

Yes, it seems to be absolutely trivial to get a spare identity this way. There was a happy period when half my identity documents bore the old surname and half the new.

[vinaigrettegirl]

the great thing about you both having the same surname is the ease with which you can deal with the paperwork of any offspring should they occur.

I am Dr Thing married to Mr Swamp and our offspring is surnamed Swamp-Thing, and oh! the trouble people have with that!

[addedentry]

Yes, making life simpler for any issue of the marriage was definitely a consideration.

It appears any name at all has the potential for problems of spelling, pronunciation, or extension to relatives, so I mustn't get too exercised about it. People will no longer say 'Macy' but they'll write down 'Knight'.

[atreic]

I did the same thing with my maiden name. (I wonder if the equivalent phrase ought to be 'master name'? No, clearly not.)

Huzzah for Mr and Mrs McKnight!

[addedentry]

Thank you - I hadn't been sure whether that was your new full name or just for the sake of Facebook (-:

I'd heard 'bachelor name' suggested, but 'master name' is one higher in the academic hierarchy.

[vinaigrettegirl]

And what you don't know isn't knowledge. (Yes, yes, I know you aren't a Balliol man, but, hey. I am weak and coudn't resist it.)

[scatmania]

And - if you don't mind me making a shameless plug - if anybody else wants to change their name without getting scammed, I recommend (my site) FreeDeedPoll.org.uk, which makes it ludicrously easy: just fill in the form, print, and sign.