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From: bweiss@cs.arizona.EDU (Beth Weiss)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Name Change After Marriage
Keywords: name change
Message-ID: <24575@megaron.cs.arizona.edu>
Date: 28 Aug 90 00:00:04 GMT
References: <220@sierra.STANFORD.EDU> <24409@megaron.cs.arizona.edu> <1990Aug24.181947.24519@ora.com>
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dst@dst.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (Dave Touretzky) writes:
>There is an alternative.  Some women maintain a fixed "professional" name
>(usually their maiden name) under which they publish all their stuff.  Then
>they are free to change their "legal name", the one they use socially, after
>each marriage, divorce, religious conversion, etc.

Would you want your professional name to be different from your social
name?  Why would someone _want_ to be "free" to change their "legal
name" after each change in their marital status/religion?

I can see disadvantages to using the birth name as a professional
name, and the spouse's name as the social name: People who know the
name changer professionally have to cope with two names (many
can't/won't--how often do you hear someone say "I can't remember her
married name?), the "social networking" that goes on often won't
include the person who uses different social/business names.

Are there advantages that I'm overlooking?

--beth