What last name should I use professionally as a man years after changing it to get married?
March 10, 2010 12:18 PM Subscribe
A good fifteen years ago, when I got married to my first wife, we got all modern and changed our last names to a combination of our first names and thus became MARk and SHErrie MARSHE. Since we got divorced I've spent a good fifteen years intending to change my name back to my maiden name, Morgan. I've been going by Mark Morgan most places on the Internet since then, but legally I'm still Mark Marshe. I got my name legally changed so I would have to pay the state a nonzero amount to get it back to Morgan. Until I can afford that, what's the best name for me to use in business? Morgan or Marshe?
My concern is that my fiancee and I are trying to build a web design business and there is a lot of me all over the Internet that is "Mark Morgan." I could ask clients to make the checks to my better half, the other partner in the business. I could make all my Twitters and Facebooks and whatnot say Mark Marshe (pretty much available) and then tediously change them all back to Mark Morgan (pretty much not available) later. Or I could use Mark Morgan everywhere and just explain to clients about the name change when it comes up.
Which sounds least shady? We don't have much of a corpus of work and I don't want to look any more fly by night than we already do.
My concern is that my fiancee and I are trying to build a web design business and there is a lot of me all over the Internet that is "Mark Morgan." I could ask clients to make the checks to my better half, the other partner in the business. I could make all my Twitters and Facebooks and whatnot say Mark Marshe (pretty much available) and then tediously change them all back to Mark Morgan (pretty much not available) later. Or I could use Mark Morgan everywhere and just explain to clients about the name change when it comes up.
Which sounds least shady? We don't have much of a corpus of work and I don't want to look any more fly by night than we already do.
Response by poster: PMdixon: Grazie. I hadn't considered DBA as Mark Morgan, as I'd figured we'd DBA as the company name but that's worth considering.
posted by mrmorgan at 12:40 PM on March 10, 2010
posted by mrmorgan at 12:40 PM on March 10, 2010
Best answer: If you're using Mark Morgan as your "professional" name already, just keep using it for your social media needs.
It's more unusual for a man to have this issue, but women who have changed their names go through this all the time. It's not that big a deal to say "I changed my name when my first wife and I got married, I'm in the middle of changing it back legally now."
(It's a little confusing for you to refer to it as your "maiden" name, though, since presumably you were not a maiden. Maybe stick with "original last name" or "family name.")
posted by desuetude at 12:59 PM on March 10, 2010
It's more unusual for a man to have this issue, but women who have changed their names go through this all the time. It's not that big a deal to say "I changed my name when my first wife and I got married, I'm in the middle of changing it back legally now."
(It's a little confusing for you to refer to it as your "maiden" name, though, since presumably you were not a maiden. Maybe stick with "original last name" or "family name.")
posted by desuetude at 12:59 PM on March 10, 2010
It's a little confusing for you to refer to it as your "maiden" name
But awesome!
since presumably you were not a maiden.
As a noun maiden means unmarried woman, but as an adjective it means first - see "maiden voyage". I think would be great if you kept calling it your "maiden name".
posted by nooneyouknow at 1:16 PM on March 10, 2010 [4 favorites]
One thing to watch for is situations where you'd be required to prove you were Mark Morgan, if you register something in that name. My mother used to be in a similar situation to you, professionally speaking. She once registered a domain name using her maiden name, and then lost the password to the account. The registrar wanted proof of identity to reset it, which she couldn't provide.
Perhaps using some sort of legally registered DBA would help in these situations? IANAL and don't know how that process works.
posted by serathen at 3:17 PM on March 10, 2010
Perhaps using some sort of legally registered DBA would help in these situations? IANAL and don't know how that process works.
posted by serathen at 3:17 PM on March 10, 2010
It's a little confusing for you to refer to it as your "maiden" name
Most people say "birth name" here.
Or I could use Mark Morgan everywhere and just explain to clients about the name change when it comes up.
Do this. Simplest, best for the future, and really not shady at all.
For money, DBA the business and have a separate account for the business (usually the first is a prereq for the second). You have ID as yourself so you shouldn't have a problem depositing money written to the wrong name, but just see what your bank says about that. As noted, women go through this routinely.
posted by dhartung at 7:41 PM on March 10, 2010
Most people say "birth name" here.
Or I could use Mark Morgan everywhere and just explain to clients about the name change when it comes up.
Do this. Simplest, best for the future, and really not shady at all.
For money, DBA the business and have a separate account for the business (usually the first is a prereq for the second). You have ID as yourself so you shouldn't have a problem depositing money written to the wrong name, but just see what your bank says about that. As noted, women go through this routinely.
posted by dhartung at 7:41 PM on March 10, 2010
Response by poster: Thank you all very much for your insights. I am from a conservative part of Oregon and I never know how people will respond to the "guy changes his name when he gets married" idea.
serathen: Good point about requiring anything legal to be in a form I can prove with ID. I hadn't considered the issue of website registrations before.
After discussing it my better half and I are going to DBA the company name (which is neither of my names) which should solve the money problem, and then just save up for my changing my name back.
Again, much appreciated.
posted by mrmorgan at 6:16 PM on March 11, 2010
serathen: Good point about requiring anything legal to be in a form I can prove with ID. I hadn't considered the issue of website registrations before.
After discussing it my better half and I are going to DBA the company name (which is neither of my names) which should solve the money problem, and then just save up for my changing my name back.
Again, much appreciated.
posted by mrmorgan at 6:16 PM on March 11, 2010
Has your ex dropped Marshe? I think Marshe is more original and surely there's better things in life to spend money on than paying to have your name changed again?
posted by Peaches83 at 11:14 AM on March 13, 2010
posted by Peaches83 at 11:14 AM on March 13, 2010
Response by poster: Ah, yes, I neglected to mention that part. Yes, my ex got her maiden name back in the divorce which is one reason I was comfortable mentioning it here. (I'm pretty sure this is the only place on the Internet mentioning her married name.) I want to go back to Morgan to keep up my connection to my family, who I feel a very strong connection with. Plus I'm getting married again and my fiancée really wants to marry to a Morgan, not a Marshé. I agree with her here.
posted by mrmorgan at 2:09 PM on March 13, 2010
posted by mrmorgan at 2:09 PM on March 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Re: Checks. Are you incorporated in some fashion, or at least registered as a partnership? Is there a business name checks can be written out to? During my brief entrepreneurial phase, I was definitely encouraged to keep a separate business account, and I think that should still hold true.
posted by PMdixon at 12:25 PM on March 10, 2010