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I am about to graduate and have a job lined up. I've networked a decent amount during law school with attorneys, professor, and judges. I never got around to this before law school (dumb), but my last name is not my "rightful" last name. Essentially, it should be X and its Y (family drama). Now I am being pressured by my family to have it legally changed to the "rightful" one, but I am very apprehensive because of the potential impact it might have on my current relationships and my reputation.

How would you see this if you knew a student that suddenly had his name changed after graduation?

Do you think this will leave a cloud over my name moving forward? I'm scared that when my name gets brought up, people will bring up the name change and speculate about it.

Ideally, I would like to have the same last name as my family (they've already changed it).

Any insight would be appreciated. And please be honest!

Just to be clear, you've been using some variation of your legal name so far, right? Assuming this is true...

People change their last name all the time (i.e. marriage), and you're overthinking this. Unless your new name is going to be Anonymous CharlesMansonIsGod, I think you'll be fine.

In the age of merged last names after marriage (which I honestly cannot stand), I would not bar an eye if I saw someone with a different last name than when they summered. Honestly, it’d be a funny story to tell people when you first start

So most people I have seen do this is due to just getting married or unmarried, but no reason it can't work for you.
They normally take something like a Linkedin profile and do their name like: FirstName NewLastName (OldLastName). Using both, with the old name in parenthesis, also helps with recommenders, potential employers you interviewed with before, etc. (they may recognize your old last name only).

Good time to develop a thick skin for what other people think. Though I doubt anyone will think twice about it or care. My only worry would be making sure reference checks/recommenders/potential employers know whats up and I think the parenthesis thing helps with this. Keeps you from having to send out a mass-mail life update but still does the work you need it to.

Others may disagree.

cavalier1138 wrote:Just to be clear, you've been using some variation of your legal name so far, right? Assuming this is true...

People change their last name all the time (i.e. marriage), and you're overthinking this. Unless your new name is going to be Anonymous CharlesMansonIsGod, I think you'll be fine.

Yeah, I've been using my legal name, but my legal last name is going to be changed. First name will stay the same. Thank you for the advice!

wishywashy wrote:So most people I have seen do this is due to just getting married or unmarried, but no reason it can't work for you.
They normally take something like a Linkedin profile and do their name like: FirstName NewLastName (OldLastName). Using both, with the old name in parenthesis, also helps with recommenders, potential employers you interviewed with before, etc. (they may recognize your old last name only).

Good time to develop a thick skin for what other people think. Though I doubt anyone will think twice about it or care. My only worry would be making sure reference checks/recommenders/potential employers know whats up and I think the parenthesis thing helps with this. Keeps you from having to send out a mass-mail life update but still does the work you need it to.

Others may disagree.

Thank for the suggestion, I'll definitely do that for a while. From what everyone is saying, it seems like it won't be a big deal. I'm still nervous but you're right, I can't stress out about what everyone thinks (within reason of course).