# Married, passport has 8 years to go...



## mell61 (26 Apr 2006)

I got married a few months ago, and was wondering about changing my passport to my married name.  
Anecdotal tales from co-workers / friends is that if I apply I have to pay the full whack for the new passport, there isn't an 'exchange' option.
I had a mouch around Oasis and passport.ie, but can't find anything concrete.
Does anyone know if I can exchange, or will I need to pay in full?


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## bond-007 (26 Apr 2006)

I am afraid that its a full fee job as I found out recently. With 8 years to go I would simply travel under your old name till then, unless you want to pay up for another.


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## Guest127 (26 Apr 2006)

make sure you book any flights etc in  your maiden name if using your old passport.


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## nelly (27 Apr 2006)

same as me - i book flights in my maiden name also. its no biggie but remember to bring your passport as your proof as ID and not your driving licence if you have changed your name on that. I know you can bring your marraige cert and they will take it at the airport if you are insistant on using your new name with your old passport, mmy cousin did it for ages after she got married


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## Cati76 (27 Apr 2006)

Why would you change your name in the first place? 
It's something that still surprises me. Why do we have to go to all that hassle, just because we got married? And why do the children have to go with the father's name? It doesn't seem fair. Where I am from, married woman do not change their name, and kids get both names, from father and mother....SO let's say my father is Mr.  X Y, and my mother is Mrs. T Z (we have two last names in Spain) , then I am Ms. X T (now you can choose the order if you want, but this is the typical arrangement).
Boyfriend and myself keep having this conversation, about in the event of marriage, will I change my name? that answer is no. All my documentation is under my name, and changing names in Degree, Master, etc etc, can be a nightmare, and also costly.


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## ClubMan (27 Apr 2006)

If each generation appends surnames then things will surely eventually become a bit unwieldly?


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## Cati76 (27 Apr 2006)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> If each generation appends surnames then things will surely eventually become a bit unwieldly?


 
We are not appending surnames, we get one for each parent....So they have two each, and I have two, one from dad and one from mom.


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## beaky (27 Apr 2006)

But what happens when you 'hand on your two manes and your partner hands on his two names. Now your issue have 4 names, then 8, 16 etc. Surely a parent will have to drop their name to maintain the number of surnames at a constant level


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## Cati76 (27 Apr 2006)

You are not understanding my point, I guess.
Ok, I will give you an example with real names:
Felipe Gonzalez Marquez marries Ana Perez Garcia, their son is then called:
Felipe Gonzalez Perez.
You see, nobody looses, as the soon gets his name from both parents.
This also makes it easy to track down the family tree.


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## beaky (27 Apr 2006)

Fair enough, but someone will only be passing their name for 1 generation, after which it will be lost to that branch of the family if I understand you correctly.You can choose the order but what is the convention for choosing the name to drop.  If there is a convention, say one normally drops maternal name, then it is the fathers name which is passed to further generations. Perhaps I still misunderstand.


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## bond-007 (27 Apr 2006)

When I got married I adopted the my wifes surname as well as my own. This led to some very interesting conversations with senior oersons in the passport office when i went to change my passport. It took a bit of explaining what I had done. My wife then took my name so became the same hyphenated dual surname, thus creating a new surname.


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## Cati76 (27 Apr 2006)

beaky said:
			
		

> Fair enough, but someone will only be passing their name for 1 generation, after which it will be lost to that branch of the family if I understand you correctly.You can choose the order but what is the convention for choosing the name to drop. If there is a convention, say one normally drops maternal name, then it is the fathers name which is passed to further generations. Perhaps I still misunderstand.


 
Surname are lost when only girls are born in a family, the same way as in Ireland..


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## ClubMan (27 Apr 2006)

bond-007 said:
			
		

> My wife then took my name so became the same hyphenated dual surname, thus creating a new surname.


So you were _Bond _and she was _007_, or vice versa? 

Call me prejudiced but hyphenated surnames still smack of pretension to me.


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## beaky (27 Apr 2006)

Yes but if any girl is born she can only hand on one name.  You said why do children have to go with the fathers name, it dosnt seem fair.  So go with the mothers name instead.  My point is that one name will have to be lost at some stage. Your compromise is to have the grandchildren loose the grandfathers or grand mothers name on both sides. Ok but it is a compromise and as clubman said its (and IMHO) a bit unwieldly and some think pretentious.  Why do we want to keep surmanes? Tells where we came from for many past generations etc... but only from one side. Your kids can tell where they came from, from both sides but only for 1 generation. I just dont see any advantage other than being able to give your kids one name which belonged to either your mother or your father. My wife kept her name by the way and I am delighted. Since I first met her I knew her as Aine XXXX and she is still the same person, even in name. No kids yet!!!!!!!!!!??????????


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## shnaek (27 Apr 2006)

You could end up with some funny hyphenated surnames in Ireland - 
Winterbottom-Weatherhead, MacDonagh-MacGuinness, Steele-Magee ...


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## Bamhan (27 Apr 2006)

It isn't a problem if people know what way their surname is spelt.
If you are registering at a library for instance which files members alphabeticaly under surname then in makes a huge difference whether you name is Mary Flynn Ross or Mary flynn-Ross.
The amount of people who change their surname each time they come to a library desk is amazing.
So do you look up Ross, Mary Flynn 
or
Flynn-Ross, Mary.

If you are going to use both surnames at least be consistant with how you use them.


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## ClubMan (27 Apr 2006)

Bamhan said:
			
		

> If you are registering at a library for instance which files members alphabeticaly under surname then in makes a huge difference whether you name is Mary Flynn Ross or Mary flynn-Ross.
> The amount of people who change their surname each time they come to a library desk is amazing.
> So do you look up Ross, Mary Flynn
> or
> ...


Er, why is this such a problem? Haven't librarians heard of computers?


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## Cati76 (27 Apr 2006)

Bamhan said:
			
		

> If you are registering at a library for instance which files members alphabeticaly under surname then in makes a huge difference whether you name is Mary Flynn Ross or Mary flynn-Ross.
> The amount of people who change their surname each time they come to a library desk is amazing.
> So do you look up Ross, Mary Flynn
> or
> ...


Sometimes it's not about how I use mine, it's how other people used them, like for instance, the bank insists dropping my first surname, and call me by my second surname, which is completely uncorrect, not matter how many times I have told them, they simply ignore me.....and it's can be frustrating. I used to work in a call center with a lot of people from everywhere, and they did the same....for some things they take both, but more than like they will be dropping our first name thinking it's a "middle name"......It's just a matter of getting informed about how things are done in other countries.


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## tiger (27 Apr 2006)

Getting back on track, you need to be very careful that your "names" match up when travelling, especially to the US.

Say you book a ticket with your credit card, that ticket will probably be issued the name as it appears on the card.
If you husband books the tickets on line with his credit card, and enters the names of the other passenger, he will have to make sure to enter the "right" name as well.
Similarly, say you're travelling for business.  Then your "company name" may appear on the ticket.

Not sure what the story is with renting cars, again credit cards & driving licenses come into play, sometimes they want to see a passport as well.


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## casiopea (27 Apr 2006)

Cati76 said:
			
		

> Why would you change your name in the first place?
> It's something that still surprises me.



Its a cultural thing.  In Ireland women grow up with the generations of women before them changing their names at marraige.  So its "normal" for us.  

Its the nice thing though about being in a mixed marraige that you can adopt the things you like from both cultures.  I married a swiss and in Switzerland people can change their name if they want but just as many dont. I chose not to change my name, in Switzerland Ive no problems, most people even assumed I wouldnt be changing. My in-laws use my maiden name if they are sending something to me. At home in Ireland so many people have questioned my decision. Oddly enough its women my age that seem to question it the most.  A good friend who got married in Ireland within months of my wedding said "you're not changing your name? Who'll I send the christmas card to".   
Ah, the same person you always did.

Interestingly in Switzerland if a couple who are not married have a child the child automatically gets the mothers name.  Ive many friends here who wont ever be getting married and their children will carry on the mothers name not the fathers.


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## ClubMan (27 Apr 2006)

casiopea said:
			
		

> I married a swiss and in Switzerland people can change their name if they want but just as many dont.


 You mean just like _Ireland _so?


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## casiopea (27 Apr 2006)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> You mean just like _Ireland _so?



No. My impression would be that more Irish women would change their name than not.


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## ClubMan (27 Apr 2006)

casiopea said:
			
		

> No. My impression would be that more Irish women would change their name than not.


Are you sure about that? I don't know many women who went to the bother of changing their names after marriage. My main point was that like in _Switzerland_, people in _Ireland _are also free to choose whether to change their names or not. You seemed to be insinuating that there was some legal onus on them doing so.


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## beaky (28 Apr 2006)

I fully expect Cati76 to comment on this as it has already been stated "why do children have to go with the fathers name". So why do they have to go with the mothers name.  Perhaps this is the ideal time to impose a double barrelled name on the child.  

Clubman, casiopea said its a cultural thing. By saying Swiss people can change their name if they want to he is surely not suggesting that Irish women have to.  Not the impression I got anyway


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## Cati76 (28 Apr 2006)

beaky said:
			
		

> I fully expect Cati76 to comment on this as it has already been stated "why do children have to go with the fathers name". So why do they have to go with the mothers name. Perhaps this is the ideal time to impose a double barrelled name on the child.


 
I am not saying they have to go with the father's or the mother's, but they way it's in Spain, they get one from both (double barrelled), this way nobody "loses"...Of course names are going to dissapear on one side of the family at some stage, but we will have to live with it...
Changing a name in all documents can prove tricky, and confusing in other cultures, so I have already discuss the matter with bf, and in the event of marriage, I won't change my name. My name it's my identity, so why should I change my identity? The same way, i would like my kids to have my name, in the way i have my mothers name (at the second last name)...


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## ClubMan (28 Apr 2006)

Cati76 said:
			
		

> they get one from both (double barrelled), this way nobody "loses"...


It could be argued that one or other of the barrels takes precedence and, as such, the other "loses".


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## Deise Dawg (28 Apr 2006)

I'm not surprised the gentleman above  got funny looks for changing his name after getting married. it really is very unusual but each to their own I suppose. My own wife is changing her name at the moment 9 months down the line, and is happy to do so, having said that it didn't really bother me publically** one way or the other whether she did or not 



**secretly I'm delighted


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## huskerdu (28 Apr 2006)

I would be very interested in knowing how many Irish women do change their name on getting married. The majority of women I know didn't, but most were the sort of pinko-liberal heathens who got married in registry offices anyway, so I dont know how typical this is.


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## casiopea (28 Apr 2006)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> Are you sure about that? I don't know many women who went to the bother of changing their names after marriage. My main point was that like in _Switzerland_, people in _Ireland _are also free to choose whether to change their names or not. You seemed to be insinuating that there was some legal onus on them doing so.




Hi ClubMan,

I didnt _insinuate_ anything. I was responding to Cati76 who's a foreigner in Ireland about my experience as an irish foreigner abroad.  I _said_, culturally its normal for irish women to change their name.  I didnt say anything about legal onus.

My _personal_ experience was that in Ireland I was expected to change my name (by my peers) and in Switzerland I wasnt.  

Cas.


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## Cati76 (28 Apr 2006)

I might not know that many Irish married women, but the few that I know, have changed their names, and got surprised about my opinions on the matter (and I am not taking about old people, most of them in the 20's-30's)


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## Henny Penny (30 Apr 2006)

Changing my surname was the first thing I did when I got married ... because I was born to a family with an unusual surname and a twisted sense of naming! 

That said, it is easier to have the same name as your children in hospitals, airports, etc ... nobody disputes your parentage!


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## Kiddo (30 Apr 2006)

mell61 said:
			
		

> I got married a few months ago, and was wondering about changing my passport to my married name.
> Anecdotal tales from co-workers / friends is that if I apply I have to pay the full whack for the new passport, there isn't an 'exchange' option.
> I had a mouch around Oasis and passport.ie, but can't find anything concrete.
> Does anyone know if I can exchange, or will I need to pay in full?


 
To get back to the original question...yes you do have to pay for a new passport. AFAIK the name change previously was free of charge but the last time they put the charges up they changed it so that a name change requires a new passport to be issued.


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## Kiddo (30 Apr 2006)

On the whole changing your name issue.. I decided to change mine so since we got married I have been known as Y. However I haven't changed anything officially yet. I plan to change bank accounts, driving licence etc in the next month or so and change my passport in July as I have flights booked in my maiden name.

I don't see how changing my surname affects my identity. I'm still the same person I was before I got married. People who knew me prior to marriage will always know me as X. In fact my granny still refers to her childhood friends by their maiden names despite the fact that they have been married for 60+ years . 

Its up to the individual to choose what suits them.


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## Winnie (1 May 2006)

Im always amazed at how opinionated people are about this subject. 
Surely it is up to the individual & some choose to change their name while some choose not to.  Why get so pent up about someone else's decision!

I personally didnt really want to change my name (only because I prefer my maiden name to my husbands!) however because I thought about the future of when we have kids (wouldnt consider going double barrelled) & because it was very important to my husband I changed it.  No big deal.  

Cati - you seem to be saying why doesnt everyone do the same as in Spain.....well because we are in Ireland........I don't really understand why you have a problem with other people changing their names as long as you can do what you want!


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