Last Name Change

[nks91]

Hello, everyone. I need some advice for last name changes. I'm sure there are a million posts about this, but I've found none so far that match my specific situation.

I'm a first year medical student and I'm getting married next month. My ideal situation for my last name is having all of my board and medical school info under my maiden name (all professional stuff as Ms. Firstname Middlename Mylastname while in medical school/Dr. Firstname Middlename Mylastname after graduation). I feel that it would be most streamlined this way. Also, I'm Hispanic and I want patients to be able to find me easily and my future husband has the whitest last name and my first name is even whiter somehow. Personally, I'd like to go by Mrs. Firstname Middlename Hislastname from now on and want to change it legally.

My question is, what's the best way to go about this? Would I change my legal name when I get married next month? If I did that, would that mean that when I take USMLE, I have to write down his last name? Since I don't want that, would there be a better time to do all this? Also is this even a thing that's allowed - going by a last name professionally but not having it match your legal last name? I live in PA and plan to practice here.

If there's no way around any of this, I'll probably just hyphenate my name, even though it's a mouthful and annoying.

I appreciate any insight at all into this!

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[caramelbear]

Aw crap I never thought of the USMLE somehow. Wondering about this too, except I'm just planning on totally changing it.

 

[nks91]

Aw crap I never thought of the USMLE somehow. Wondering about this too, except I'm just planning on totally changing it.

Yeah, it's a lot to think about!

 

[raiderette]

My best friend kept her maiden name as her legal name, but answered to her spouse's last name socially. We are in the Midwest so most people assume she took his name.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

My best friend kept her maiden name as her legal name, but answered to her spouse's last name socially. We are in the Midwest so most people assume she took his name.

This is really the only solution from a legal standpoint as far as I know.

 

[nks91]

My best friend kept her maiden name as her legal name, but answered to her spouse's last name socially. We are in the Midwest so most people assume she took his name.

Thank you! I think I'll do that then.

 

[psychhopefull2016]

Thank you! I think I'll do that then.

You kinda have to. If you ID and USMLE Schedule permit say different names they won't let you take the test. I changed my name between step 1 and step 2ck because I got married Christmas break of 3rd year like a crazy person

 

[Brorthopedic]

ya'll are just adorable

 

[Spectre of Ockham]

Having a snow white last name never hurt a doctor , quite the contrary in Trumpland.

 

[harkas]

Hello, everyone. I need some advice for last name changes. I'm sure there are a million posts about this, but I've found none so far that match my specific situation.

I'm a first year medical student and I'm getting married next month. My ideal situation for my last name is having all of my board and medical school info under my maiden name (all professional stuff as Ms. Firstname Middlename Mylastname while in medical school/Dr. Firstname Middlename Mylastname after graduation). I feel that it would be most streamlined this way. Also, I'm Hispanic and I want patients to be able to find me easily and my future husband has the whitest last name and my first name is even whiter somehow. Personally, I'd like to go by Mrs. Firstname Middlename Hislastname from now on and want to change it legally.

My question is, what's the best way to go about this? Would I change my legal name when I get married next month? If I did that, would that mean that when I take USMLE, I have to write down his last name? Since I don't want that, would there be a better time to do all this? Also is this even a thing that's allowed - going by a last name professionally but not having it match your legal last name? I live in PA and plan to practice here.

If there's no way around any of this, I'll probably just hyphenate my name, even though it's a mouthful and annoying.

I appreciate any insight at all into this!

Aw crap I never thought of the USMLE somehow. Wondering about this too, except I'm just planning on totally changing it.

Hi recently accepted but am curious about the name thing too. Why would it be a problem with the USMLE?

 

[orthogenes]

The best way to go about this is don't change you real name, and do change your facebook name. Done. Easy peasy.

PS I wish I had done what I just recommended instead of changing my name.

My best friend kept her maiden name as her legal name, but answered to her spouse's last name socially. We are in the Midwest so most people assume she took his name.

Just like this^^

Hello, everyone. I need some advice for last name changes. I'm sure there are a million posts about this, but I've found none so far that match my specific situation.

I'm a first year medical student and I'm getting married next month. My ideal situation for my last name is having all of my board and medical school info under my maiden name (all professional stuff as Ms. Firstname Middlename Mylastname while in medical school/Dr. Firstname Middlename Mylastname after graduation). I feel that it would be most streamlined this way. Also, I'm Hispanic and I want patients to be able to find me easily and my future husband has the whitest last name and my first name is even whiter somehow. Personally, I'd like to go by Mrs. Firstname Middlename Hislastname from now on and want to change it legally.

My question is, what's the best way to go about this? Would I change my legal name when I get married next month? If I did that, would that mean that when I take USMLE, I have to write down his last name? Since I don't want that, would there be a better time to do all this? Also is this even a thing that's allowed - going by a last name professionally but not having it match your legal last name? I live in PA and plan to practice here.

If there's no way around any of this, I'll probably just hyphenate my name, even though it's a mouthful and annoying.

I appreciate any insight at all into this!

 

[NickNaylor]

Your license and everything “official” is going to be under your legal name, so if you change your legal name you’re SOL. I agree with the recommendation above of keeping your name legally unchanged but simply referring to yourself with your to-be husband’s last name if that’s what you want to go by for social reasons.

 

[Crayola227]

getting a legal name change later can be a bit more difficult than if you do it with the marriage license forms, but it's usually quite simple in any case

you can look into it

if it's not onerous just do it after Step 1

I understand when I was engaged I always planned to take my partner's name
so don't listen to any haters on that front

 

[Raryn]

Hello, everyone. I need some advice for last name changes. I'm sure there are a million posts about this, but I've found none so far that match my specific situation.

I'm a first year medical student and I'm getting married next month. My ideal situation for my last name is having all of my board and medical school info under my maiden name (all professional stuff as Ms. Firstname Middlename Mylastname while in medical school/Dr. Firstname Middlename Mylastname after graduation). I feel that it would be most streamlined this way. Also, I'm Hispanic and I want patients to be able to find me easily and my future husband has the whitest last name and my first name is even whiter somehow. Personally, I'd like to go by Mrs. Firstname Middlename Hislastname from now on and want to change it legally.

My question is, what's the best way to go about this? Would I change my legal name when I get married next month? If I did that, would that mean that when I take USMLE, I have to write down his last name? Since I don't want that, would there be a better time to do all this? Also is this even a thing that's allowed - going by a last name professionally but not having it match your legal last name? I live in PA and plan to practice here.

If there's no way around any of this, I'll probably just hyphenate my name, even though it's a mouthful and annoying.

I appreciate any insight at all into this!

These two desires are not mutually compatible. Either you don't change your name legally, or you have your new legal name on all your new legal documents (including your educational and employment documents).

As mentioned above, you can change your name socially without changing it legally. Your school, your future employers, the medical boards, and your financial institutions (banks, etc) must use whatever your legal name (attached to your social security card, ID, passport, etc) is. Period. What your friends/clubs/whatever call you OTOH is totally flexible.

 

[Crayola227]

I know some lady docs are able to use and be called by their previous maiden name when they change it legally

most have hyphenated their names though

I was told typically this was in the case where someone has an established patient base and wants patients they treated before marriage or a move to be able to look them up in the future more easily

as Raryn says though, for anything more official the legal name is used
and on scripts, so there can be confusion with the pharmacy

I know some lady docs waited until residency or attendinghood to change it legally

 

[Crayola227]

I had a legal name change that was unrelated to marriage, and it was quite simple

 

[Punkn]

I got married in MS4 and changed everything to HisLastName. Started intern year, took step 3, got state licenses, etc (we moved to a different state after intern year). Everything during residency, fellowship, and first job was the same. Then we got divorced during my first job. I was able to change my legal name back fairly easily (though it is a hassle, and it seems like things always come up, where you're like, oh I forgot to change it there). However, I worked for the VA and name changes take like 18 months to actually happen so I didn't even file the paperwork as I was actively looking for another job. I moved to a new state and it was a pain to provide all the required information and basically sending every school, testing agency, board, etc everything they asked for as well as marriage and divorce certificates and there were several hiccups and mis-communications/they couldn't find my name, etc. I also had to take my sub-specialty exam under HisLastName and fortunately had not changed my passport yet as that needed to serve as my ID that had to match my registration ticket, and there was no way to change the ticket. I called the board to inquire about this and they said, if your ID doesn't match, we can't admit you to the exam, no matter the reason and no matter what every else paperwork you have to show a name change. So...I definitely don't mean to be a Debbie Downer and I hope this never happens to you, but just an experience on what can happen and how it plays out. Now that I've been in my new job about a year, it's not big deal at all. Everyone knows me as MyMaidenName and everything through the state and boards are under that name. It was just more effort to make the transition. Best of luck to you!

 

[NickNaylor]

@Punkn makes a good point, which is that you will have to provide documentation to every board/agency/whatever you interact with if your name is “mixed” on various documents (this includes your STEP exams, as these are used for state licensure). Divorce adds a further wrench in the machine which will cause you to submit even more documentation to justify your name change should you change it back to your maiden name.

None of this is meant to dissuade you from doing whatever it is that you want, just understand that for licensing and all that good stuff, the boards tend to be onerous and you will have to document ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that is suggestive of any kind of discrepancy in your history. Not a big deal in the big scheme of things, but not insignificant either.