...
yesterday, i visited the social security office and began the process of changing my last name. the first step in a series of steps of becoming "one."
so many people do things differently these days, there is more freedom to how one goes about changing one's name post-marriage. someone said something wise to me, that in the short term, not changing your last name is easier, but in the long term, changing your last name will make things easier (yeah, for sure, there are things like joint bank accounts, mortgages, insurance policies, etc). it's true... we do want to be a married entity, and that would require more legwork on my part now, for less work/hassle in the long run.
it's one of those things that i never gave too much thought to, i placed in the same category as "how do i want my wedding dress to look like?" i really didn't think too much about it when i was single, since it's a non-issue :p
but by the time chris & i went to the county clerk to register for our marriage license, i had already decided to change my name to "may mei-chia liu," all i had to do was type it into the computer myself, and the system will know recognize me as a different name that determines how i am to be known to the rest of the world, especially for those who have yet to meet me.
some women chose to put their maiden name as their middle name (if they didn't have one or isn't too partial to begin with). that would make me "may tsai liu," i would be normally known as "may liu" and get to keep some association with the last name i've been known by all my life. it would allow professionally, some connection between past and present. i, on the other hand, like my middle name, it was the name i grew up to in taiwan, i was mei-chia before i was may, so i wanted to keep that part of my name.
some (more progressive?) women chose to keep their last name, or combine their last names. Some men would also change their last names to reflect a combination of the two individuals... that didn't seem to make too much sense to either chris or me. 'tsai-liu' or 'liu-tsai' are both equally awkward... my sister-in-law made the good point that liu-tsai is slightly better than lau-tsai. truthfully, it's not a good combo for a last name (tsai) that already so resembles (sai) :P to add any "L"s to... nope, not for us.
so, i'm still not sure if i should have put "tsai" as my middle name and dropped "mei-chia" altogether (i would still know it, less wordy as a name as a whole), or maybe dropped both parts to simplify my name (something tells me there are more may liu's than may tsai's). still, it's the original decision i made when i signed up for the marriage contract, which will become more official as i get my documents in order. (next up: driver's license).
so, i am now... may liu.
i don't really know her yet. it looks funny when i sign e-mails or the backs of checks going into our joint bank account. i have yet to introduce myself as may liu to a complete stranger, but i suppose it's only a matter of time before somebody new calls me by my new name.
the bible tells of numerous stories of when god changes someone's name to signify a new identity or purpose for that individual. i remember going thru the bible study series at EV where we learned about god's different names and how it reflects various characteristics of god.
i wonder if peter ever missed being simon, or abraham abram, sarah sarai, paul saul, or if the new thing god was doing in their lives surpassed their former association(s).
more importantly, how did they decide how their new signatures should look like?? jk :P
