Over the last 12 months, I’ve had a few important decisions to make both personally and professionally. Some have been easier than others, I must admit. For example, for the first time in my life, I will be moving house. After living in the same house for my entire 28 years of existence, I was pretty sure I wanted to stay in the East London after getting married. I have also decided that now is the time to let go of my 9-5 and go full time into freelance journalism. However, a decision that hasn’t been easy to make, is if I should or shouldn't change my last name after marriage.
I’ve been back and forth and wondered what are the pros and cons of changing my name. I’ve read countless articles year after year after year, that discuss the idea of not changing your surname to be an act of feminism. I’ve read that some women refuse to change their names, because they can’t be asked with the paperwork. I even have a friend who won’t be changing her surname because she just prefers the name she was born with. Whatever the reason a woman has for deciding not to change her surname after marriage are all completely valid.