I’m changing my last name.
I could go on about all the wonderful reasons to do this. Things to with children, husbands, family units and whatnot. Although I’d like to say that I kept my maiden (ha!) name for interesting, feminist reasons, the real reason was that it was too much of a pain in the ass to change it.
And the real reason I’m taking my husband’s name now, eight years into our marriage? The domain name “kathryncrawford” was taken, and “kathrynsaxer” wasn’t. (As in, www.kathrynsaxer.com.)
Despite the expediency, I quite like the name “Kathryn Crawford Saxer.” There’s a nice progression to it.
I grew up as “Kate Crawford” and expanded it to “Kathryn Crawford” in college when I thought I needed a little more sophistication. I kept “Kathryn Crawford” through my journalism and marketing careers (never acquiring much sophistication, however). Adding “Saxer” carries me forward into this new adventure of self employment.
The only thing is, I kind of miss “Kate.” Maybe I’ll be Kate again when I’m an old lady.