Hi friends! Today’s post is a little different than what you normally see here on Rhyme & Reason. I’m turning to y’all for a little help so keep on reading. As you might know, I got married almost two weeks ago (has it already been two weeks!?). The last two weeks, I’ve been soaking up every newlywed feeling and I hope the feelings never end! On the girl’s end, getting married also comes with a large to-do list of things involving the name change.
Yup, if you’re changing your last name after getting married, then the list is longer than you might even realize. Email address (if you last name was in your address), driver’s license, passport, airline rapid reward programs, credit cards, Instagram handle and so much more! I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And today I’m sharing my thoughts on getting married and changing your last name. Plus, asking for a little help from you.
While I truly think that Attaway is the best last name (and such a fun one to grow up with!), I am so excited to be taking Edwin’s last name and to become an Eversole. I think Eversole has such a beautiful sound to it and I really love “E’s” in monograms (it’s the little things!). I’m a traditionalist so this was an easy decision for me. After I get my marriage certificate from South Carolina, I’ll officially go through the steps to change my name to either Jillian Anne Attaway Eversole or Jillian Attaway Eversole (to drop my original middle name or not? I’m thinking not!).
So, this brings me to the purpose of this post… My Instagram handle is currently @jillianattaway. I’m left with two options…
1) I can keep my Instagram handle @jillianattaway and make my life as a blogger easier (there is a lot of backend stuff on my blog linked to @jillianattaway). However, I wonder if I’ll regret it down the road and always be wrestling with two names and people not knowing my new real name.
2) I can change my Instagram handle to reflect my new name, which is Jillian Eversole. However, I wonder if it will be confusing for my followers on Instagram and interfere with the brand I’ve been developing over here on Rhyme & Reason. @jillianeversole is taken on Instagram but @jillian_eversole is available…
I’d sincerely love your opinion! I can’t tell y’all how much I appreciate you following along with me on my blog and on my Instagram. Each of your opinions means more to me than you probably realize! I’m currently thinking that I’d like to embrace my new name fully and become @jillian_eversole on Instagram. What do you think? I waver on it! Have any of you questioned wether or not to change your name or change your Instagram handle if you’ve built a business around your name? It is honestly a real topic of discussion nowadays for women even if the Instagram aspect might seam silly… a business is a business. Visit my Instagram today at 5/5:50pm because…
I’ll be holding an Instagram Poll on my Instagram Story this evening about changing my Instagram Handle. It would mean the world to have you participate + I need your help!
P.S. my friend Mackenzie wrote a similar post on this topic that you might be interested in! She has really great opinions on the topic too! We might end up going different routes so you’ll love getting her thoughts too (especially if you’re struggling with this issue too)!
Photograph: Virgil Bunao
I went through the same struggles! I didn’t change my name officially for a while, I’m Canadian and it seemed like it’d be a LOT of work…Canadian passport, American social and green card, etc, so many things. I finally did it when I was pregnant because I wanted us all to have the same last name and I realized it wasn’t as difficult and time consuming as I imagined it would be and wish I would have done it sooner! As for Instagram/blog stuff, I changed mine all to my new married name and it was easy and I think people figured it out pretty quickly. I kept my middle name, and though I miss seeing my maiden name on things like my license, I still feel like it’s a part of me so it really wasn’t too hard. That’s my two cents! Good luck with your decision making 🙂
Whitney, I loved your comment! Thank you so much for weighing in! Your thoughts gave me a lot to think about and I’m so appreciative! Thank you for reading R&R! XOXO