What's in a Name?

So I’m looking through some book and it has TWO chapters on name-changing, and I start to panic. I’ve grown up and lived my whole life with two names. No middle name, no nickname, no hyphens, nothing tricky or fancy or deceptive. It’s rather boring, but they’re my names and I like ‘em. Why haven’t I thought about changing my name yet? Does this mean I want to or don’t want to? What does my fiancé think? What will other people think? Do I care? Like I said, panic.

While I don’t particularly want to be “Mrs. ________” (this image is—no offense—not what I want to be in the future. Ever.), I do think it’s confusing when kids have different last names floating around their family. I’ve taught several kids with hyphenated last names and it is basically guaranteed I will use the wrong last name when greeting their parents. Even worse is when mom kept her own last name and I never knew it so I call her Mrs. Whatever and she has to correct me. Dammit!

I think it will make life easier for everyone else (not that I really care) if I just take this new name and deal with it. But there is a debate in my head so I’ll keep you posted.