Bride-to-be Blogger Carly: Deciding to Change My Name

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Carly Day. That’s my name. (Don’t wear it out!) I’ve always loved my name: easy to say, easy to spell, and I think it has a nice ring to it. Back in high school both teachers and friends would call me by my full name. “It just flows,” they would say.

I’ve been Carly (Anne) Day for 28 years (aka my whole life) and that’s all about to change … How weird is that? I’ve always known that I would want to take my husband’s last name when I get married. I like the idea of sharing a name and beginning a family together. I know that there are other options out there: keeping my maiden name, hyphenating, or (most untraditional) asking Sean to take my name. But none of those options will do for me, so I’ll just have to get used to my new name, Meluney.

It took me a couple of dates to get Sean’s last name right in my head. Meluney is a name I’d never heard before and, unlike Day, doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the way my current one does. Nonetheless, it will be mine eight months from now.

And while I know that I’ll soon be Carly Meluney, I’m still trying to figure out what comes in-between. I really like my middle name; my mom’s middle name is also Ann, without the ‘e’—and I like having that connection to her. I also like the way Carly Anne sounds and think having the “Anne” in the middle breaks up the redundant “y” sound of Carly Meluney. But, then where does Day go? Sure, I could give it to one of my future children as a middle name, but that doesn’t feel like the answer. So, Carly Anne Meluney or Carly Day Meluney (or I guess Carly Anne Day Meluney, but that’s getting to be really long!), the jury’s still out. But I’m so happy to be marrying Sean and to share a name with him that, no matter what I choose, I’m certain I’ll get used to my new name, as many, many women have before me!

I’m thinking that, at first, I’ll be so excited to be a married woman that I’ll look for opportunities to introduce myself as Mrs. Carly Meluney. But I’m imaging that the smaller stuff—signing checks, answering the phone, filling out paperwork, will be a more thoughtful transition.

With all this in mind I’ve really gotten to wondering: how long before saying/signing/seeing Carly Meluney starts to feel right? Until my hand naturally pens Meluney on the signature line? Until Carly Meluney is the easy answer to “What’s your name?”?

So I ask you, dear readers, how long before you fully adopted your new name?

Maybe I should get myself a notebook and start dreamily doodling Carly Anne Meluney and Carly Day Meluney until one starts to look right!

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