My New Name

When J and I got married, I didn't change my name. But when Coco came along, I started having second thoughts. Here was my daughter whom I loved more than anything under the sun and she and my husband, whom I also love more than anything, had the same name, so shouldn't I have it, too? Duh. So this summer, while I was in the States, I went ahead and did it. It felt pretty crazy to do, but I had been deliberating long enough, I figured, why not? My God, changing your name is a pain! I'm still not done and I still find it confusing that now I have a different name. When I was in the DMV getting my new license, the woman asked me to sign my name in the box and I was sort of stunned, "Which name?" I asked. And she looked at me like I was a complete moron. Oh, jeez.

So now that I've switched it over on mostly everything, I still feel in-between. Like when I write an article for a magazine or submit a story to an essay contest, do I really use this new name? Or is it okay  to use my own name for things like that? Or should I use both? How have people done this for centuries? It is really weird.

Did you change your name when you got married? Or, finally when you had a baby? How long did it take you to feel like it was actually your name? ;)