A year ago this week we returned from our fabulous honeymoon on Maui. We both returned to work and got back into the swing of things. I always had a long list of housekeeping type things in my head that I needed to do now that I was married: get new driver’s license, change name at social security office, change name at bank, get joint accounts, change name on insurance.
Over the past year I’ve gradually taken care a few of these tasks. I keep telling Todd that I’ll do them sooner and without complaint if he’ll come with me and just sit there. You know, since he married me and all. I am taking his name.
I was allowed to change my name at the DMV without changing it at social security first. My doctor’s office, though, won’t change my name until I change it at social security and change it with benefits at work so as to avoid confusion. This is where Todd is upset and concerned. The baby’s birth certificate (which should be filled out in about 3 weeks) will show that we have two different last names and he’s not okay with that.
So, I am taking actual leave from my job today and braving the smelly social security office– with all necessary documents in hand. I hope. And Purell in hand. Blech. If I’m catching Swine Flu that’s where it’s going to happen. So, dear friends, at the end of today I will officially be Mrs. Todd Carroll. And I promise I won’t still be mad that I spent most of my day at the social security office.
Anyone else been married a year and still hasn’t changed her name?
It only took me about 20 min total, so hopefully it will be just as fast for you!! GL!
It didn’t take more than an hour at the social security line for me. They were super efficient. The line looked daunting at first but I realized there were something like a dozen lines people could go to and it all depended on why they were there. It took me a few months to do all that.
they’ve really improved the process! I went Friday to change my name and it only took 30 minutes!
I still haven’t changed my name. I hypenate at work, and the mil id has my married name, but it isn’t changed… he is starting to get alittle annoyed, but I had a lot of travel booked and its under my maidan name but i can’t use that as an excuse any more.
I’ve been married almost four years and haven’t legally changed my last name. I promise I plan on doing it, but because of travel plans, it looks like I won’t be able to do until next year!
Good luck 🙂
I’ve legally changed my name…but some of my credit cards and unfortunately my passport still have the wrong name on them. Oops!
This is so me! I didn’t change my name ’til 6 months after we got married but that’s only ’cause we have a baby coming too 🙂
The SS office wasn’t that bad. I was in and out in 20 minutes.
I went to the SS office on a Friday afternoon in downtown Chicago, and it only took like 45 minutes (40 minutes of waiting, 5 minutes for the actual name changing process). Hopefully, you’ll have an even faster experience on a Wednesday!
Bring a good book to read. Then, Murphy’s law will apply and you won’t have time to read it. =)
Oh my! I thought I was the only one! It will be a year for us June 7th and I still have not gone to the SS office. I have got to do this, you have given me motivation.
Good Luck!
It’s been eight months and I still haven’t changed my license! Every weekend I say, “oh I should have done my license this weekend!”
It’s been 2+ years and I still haven’t braved the social security office! Guess I should get on that!
Ha ha – this sounds so familiar! I was induced with my little guy (and we’d been married like 4 years) and my current drivers license picture is the day I went into the hospital to be induced because I was worred about that same thing! One of the very last things I did before I checked intot the hospital was get a new license all because of the last name thing.
Changing my name at the Social Security Office was the easy part! The DMV in PA was a big hassle and I had to wait in two different lines only to get to the front and tell me that I was in the wrong line! But, I am glad it’s all changed! Don’t get me started on my middle name (on my SS card it is my maiden name, on my DL it is my original middle name) oh well!
Perhaps you’ll be lucky and there won’t be a line. I got lucky like that when I had to take care of my name change in 2004.
It’s not too bad hopefully there won’t be a line 🙂
One of the many reasons why I’m keeping my name.
I never thought about the hassle of changing your name…ugh. I am not looking forward to that in the future!
I did it right away but my school district is still changing my name on things–my heath insurance did but not my dental or my retirement. And weird things needed a copy of my marriage license and ss card with new name–like frequent flier card–everything else was just a phone call. I was at the SS office for over an hour and a half–the last Monday of the month is the day they pay benefits so it was super crowded and with weird people, the girl in front of me never changed from her married name back to her maiden name with her divorce and her new marriage license was with her maiden name–so she was at teh counter forever!
I can’t say that I haven’t changed all my name’s stuff… but I can say that I understand why you haven’t! It took at least three trips to every place before I had everything worked out — To add to the shame of it all? I failed my NC driver’s test the first time and couldn’t get my license until I passed it…
Gee…it was so long ago, I don’t even remember!
Are you getting excited about the due date? Congratulations!! Love your blog and just sent you an invite to mine. You will have to pardon my grammer…not so good!! xxxxxx me
I changed mine about a month after we got married and it was a quick and painless process 🙂 good luck with SS office though-it is nasty! 🙂
I'm getting married in October (In Savannah! Squeee!)and I found a website through a bridal magazine called Ms. into Mrs. Anyway, you fill out a questionaire and tell them all the things you need to change your name for (Banks, credit angencies, DMV, SS, voters registration, etc.) and they populate all the forms for you. You print them off & with it comes instructions on where to go & what to bring (down to the fee if there is one). Anyway, I'm going to try it out & I hope that it saves me some time & hassel!
I was married for 2 years as well before I finally got around to changing my last name lol. And it was for the very same reason – I did NOT want to go to the social security office. Wishing you lots of luck (and Purell) today! 🙂
Oh wow! No, I had mine changed within a week of getting back from our honeymoon! LOL But, I’m kinda OCD-ish like that!
i havent made it up to the SS office yet! I am glad I am not the only one haha : )
Good luck at the SS office! Hopefully you won’t have to stay there too long! 🙂
It took me about 3 weeks after our honeymoon in Maui (too) to go to the SS office. I waited in the office about 2 hours but got my card in 10 days!
I’m with you on the procrastinating. The only reason I had to do it soon was because we went to Cabo for our honeymoon. I had to get a new driver’s license that matched my passport and a new SSC to get the license. I hyphenate my name (a big issue for the hubs and in-laws). I am connected to my name, it’s the only piece of my grandfather I have left other than memories! So if you like your name, you should keep it. FYI my birth certificate has my mom’s maiden name since they hadn’t been married quite a year when I was born! I think she might have been busy being pregnant or something 😉
Hahahha — I just blogged about this last week! My name is ONLY changed at Social Security and at work. Drivers License and CCs all have my maiden name. This week I’m actually going to the DMV.
Social Security is not bad, don’t worry!
I was married 3 years before I had my name changed, due to a major oops at the SS office. And, because of that my bank still won’t change my name on my debit card. I’ve been married 7 years. Good Luck!!!
I am so glad I’m not the only one who hasn’t taken care of this!! I think about it all the time, but I never want to go down to that yucky office! My goal is to do it this month. I hope you don’t have to wait too long!
There are several things I haven’t changed my name on yet, but I did go sit in the very same dreaded social security office that you are today. Luckily the day I went, time went by pretty quickly. It may have been thanks to my people watching – you’ll see some interesting people in there. Good luck! 🙂
Will I ever get there? I have no idea. 5 years ago I wouldn’t ever have that not changing my name would be an option, but hubby realizes how much work it is and so he doesn’t mind my laziness right now. Things might change when I get pregnant though.
It took me 6 months to get started on the name changing process, and now (9 months after our wedding) I am still trying to get things straightened out. The saying “everything that can go wrong, will go wrong” definitely applied to me in this instance! Today, my goal is to keep my sanity while I explain to my insurance co. for the 99th time that I am “FirstName MaidenName MarriedName” and that I did not hyphenate. Grr! (If it makes you feel better, I’d still be dragging my feet if it wasn’t for my passport–I wanted to get that done within a year of when I first applied to avoid the fees)
I’m going to change mine ASAP since I’m not teaching all summer and it will be much easier to find the time to do it then! I hear it can be annoying tho and I kind of dread it!
It took me a full year to get all my various things done.
But the worst was when I was caught off guard one day and someone asked me my name and I introduced myself with my maiden name….three years after the wedding.
Fortunately, we had a week after the honeymoon to get things sorted – my husband was out of school and I didn’t start work, so I made him come with me. I was so glad because our Social Security building and folks there were interesting to say the least. Purell is a good idea!
I had to change mine at the Social Security office before I could do my DL, bank, or anything else–so, I had to bite the bullet right away (we were also moving so, you know, I was pressed for time). Although my boss waited a good year + to change her name. It’s just such a pain to do! I understand. I got there right when they opened (literally) and still had to wait. Ugh! Good luck!
i actually don’t think I’m going to change it all! Perhaps if we ever have children, because I agree that both parents should have the same name on the birth certificate.
I changed my name at the ss office…and bank..but haven’t braved the driver’s license place yet (and it’s been 6 months!) You can’t imagine the confusion it has caused having a different name than on my d.l. It’s like people have never heard of getting married.
I’m only 6 weeks out but I’m dredding it… I generally hate any process like that (not an original pet peeve, but you know) and the SS office doesn’t open until 9:30 and then closes at 5… grrrrrrr.
It took me 10 months and it was horrible. I almost considered paying our attorney to do it all for me… The SS office was by far the worst gov’t agency to go to.
I think I was trying to get those papers started before we were even married! lol. That was the first thing I did the SECOND we got back from our honeymoon. 🙂
I waited 2 years to change mine, until I needed a new passport. I never thought about having to change it before having a baby, though!
I've been married almost 4 years & still havent done it. Whoops! haha
I’m coming up on a year! I changed it with my social security and doctors offices/insurance, but I have yet to change my driver’s license. I don’t want to wait forever at the dmv~!
I havent changed mine yet, and our on was born a week and a half ago, so unfortunately it has my maiden name on it, my husband wasnt pleased about this either, good luck at the social security office!
My maiden name is on our boys birth certificates anyway, even though I had legally changed my name.
I’ll have been married one year next month and it took me a couple months to change my social, 6 months to change my drivers license, 10 months to change my car insurance. I still need to change on my bank and health insurance.
Glad I’m not the only one! 🙂
I waited OVER a year to legally change my name…. The SS office was awful and I just kept putting it off. I finally changed it about 5 days before Miss A was born… Mr was going to be annoyed if she ended up having a different last name on the birth certificate.
I thought I would have an easy time changing my name, but when it came time to do it I struggled with it more than I had thought I would.
I did the social security change a week after we got back from the honeymoon. It only took me 1 week to get the new card in the mail. The only thing I was upset about is when I went to the DMV they made me get a new picture.I have had my dmv picture since I was 22. It is a great picture! Now I have an awful pic because I did not think to put makeup on or do my hair for the dmv.
Ugh all of that paperwork sounds terribly annoying!
We’ve been married almost a year, and I am less than 20% through the name changing.
Whatever. It’s a hassle. I have priorities.
it took me several months to handle all that stuff…i just now got my name changed on my work email. my poor students have been super confused all year long!
it took me about 30 min in the SS office..hope you had a short trip too!
add me to the list of those who have not changed their name … we will be married a year this weekend! I changed my drivers license about 3 weeks ago and I thought that was an accomplishment!
Erin, I had everything changed within two weeks of returning from the honeymoon. I was probably spurred on by the fact that my mother-in-law never got around to changing her name and has been married 39 years – just sort of faking it!
I changed all mine with in a month.. the social security card thing.. took me longer to do bec i dreaded going and waiting forever and taht I did do! But once there and done with.. I was happy:) yeah mrs todd carroll:) so cute:)
Hopefully everything went well and you didn’t have to wait too long. I didn’t wait long at all to change things over but may have if DMV didn’t mandate to see my new Social Security card. It also helped that Lee went with me 🙂
Congratulations on officially being Mrs. Todd Carroll!!
I have been married for almost 5 years and have not changed my name with Social Security. The DMV let me change it with them and I was even able to get a passport! I’m just lazy and don’t want to sit at the SS office. I suppose one day I should do it though.
I did the ss right away but then had a night mare at the DMV. I changed my social to make my maiden name my middle name and dropped my middle name. The DMV said it violated national security immigration protections or something and my husband (a lawyer) ended up threatening to sue the DMV! It was a night mare and lead to our first married fight. Now when I look back I think it was pretty funny! Good luck at the DMV
I’m so glad to know I’m not the last person that hasn’t changed her name yet. It’s only been about 5 months for me, but at the rate I’m going, it’ll be a while before I force myself to sit as the social security office all day! Hope you didn’t have to wait forever! Left you something on my blog.
Married almost 10 years. Still haven’t changed my last name. 🙂
oh god that entire experience was a complete headache. i hope it goes better for you than it did for me!
Ha! I have yet to change my name, and it’s been 2.5 years! I intend to do it, but for various reasons I have been putting it off. I go by my husband’s last name socially, but all of my legal documents are still my maiden name. It would probably be good if I did it before we crossed into year 3! Hope everything went smoothly today!
If you had a wait, I’m very sorry. Please know that we, Social Security employees, are overworked and understaffed. We get to our clients as quickly as possible. Provided you brought in all of the proper documents, valid state ID/driver’s license and marriage record (not just a marriage license — that just shows that you filed for the license to get married, not that you actually got married), the application process should be 5 minutes maximum! Also, at least in the state of Ohio, all of mother’s names on birth certificates should be her maiden name. Tell your husband not to worry!
I changed my name RIGHT AWAY due to husby starting the citizenship process and it didn’t take long at all.
I hope it went smoothly and soon you will have your baby!
I had a surprisingly easy trip to the Social Security office! Nothing like what I’d expected. I hope your trip was the same!
My least favorite part about being a newlywed, for sure. I hated it although I did it quickly….just like pulling off a bandaid. Get it over with and never look back! 🙂
I did it just the opposite. I got my name changed after a few weeks, but I just got my DL changed two weeks ago!!
I hope the trip went well!!! =) Two words: hand sanitizer!
I have been married one year, seven months and still haven’t changed it! I’m also pregnant with our first, so when we move back to the US this summer, I’ll be madly changing mine so we don’t have the same problem as you. Hopefully, it won’t cause too much of a headache!
Awe! That is too cute. I hope it went well. Xoxo-BLC
I didn’t change my name up until the gov’t wouldn’t accept my tax submission b/c my name on file didn’t match my W2. Thank goodness they can do it fast now, because otherwise I would have been screwed. We filed our taxes at 6 p.m. on the day they were due!
I am in the same situation, though I haven’t been married for quite a year. The only thing I have changed is my driver’s license, so I still have a ton of name changing to do. Hope the SS office went well for you and congrats on officially becoming Mrs. Carroll 😉
Haha. Actually it has been 2 and a half years and although my SS number has been changed to my married name, I have yet to change my drivers license. Holy moly. I need to get on that. It makes me feel better that I am not the only slacker out there. Ha
my step-mother-in-law has been married for 10 years and has not legally changed her name with SSA. have no fear, you’re doing well.
on the other hand, after going through all of that stuff i did tell my husband that if we ever divorced (which is not an option, btw!) he was going to change his name since it’s such a pain in the hiney…
I was so relieved when I read this! I thought I was the only one!! I have yet to change my name and we have been married 9 months- I’m not working anymore because of bedrest so I am thinking that during my maternity leave and when I apply for our baby’s card I will just change mine while I am there! Good to know there are others out there! Congrats for getting yours done!!
oh and ps- some counties, depending on which one you live in, puts the mother’s maiden name on there anyways. I deal with birth certificates from all over SC with my job and have seen it done that way even though the mother had changed her name. Tell your hubs don’t worry! No one will think you had Baby boy o.o.w.
haha … I talked about this on my blog this morning. I think I will be just like you with this one. Thinking about changing my name stresses me out 🙂
I changed my name on everything (except my passport-I’ll wait until closer to time of actually needing it again, it’s expensive and I had just gotten a new one for our honeymoon) the day after we got back from our honeymoon! It was so late in the summer when we got married and I wanted to start the new school year with my “new last name” so the students would not have to change names on me half way into the school year. So I was sure to get it changed on everything as soon as we got back!
I have been married 2 years now and I finally changed my name on my passport. Unfortunatley my passport now has a bloated pregnancy picture. boo