Dear Steemian,

Today's dilemma is should I change my name?

I have come to an interesting point in my life, where my passport runs out next year, I am separated, but still using my married name and I hate my maiden name, so I could give myself a whole new identity by law. It only costs £14.99 by deed poll to do this in the UK

So I could actually become Hope Huggs for real. And it is something I am seriously considering, despite the sniggers I get from the people I ask when I tell them I might do it.

Actually the only person who thought it was a great idea was the counsellor who I talked to to help me deal with the break up of my marriage.

I am going through a liberating part of my life, throwing off shackles of a tough few years and changing my name feels like it could be a significant part of the "this is me" process.

The name Hope Huggs says it all really about the type of person I am and who I strive to be. It is a bit quirky, yes - but so am I!

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I know that if I did go through with it, there will be some eyebrows raised and lead to some interesting conversations, but I can tell them all to come to Steemit. :)

Yes, probably the most interesting reaction will come come from father as this is something he will not be impressed about (much like the decision I made to invite a steemian friend into my home, I talked about in the last post).

I have talked my Mom around, she says as long as I include Helen as a middle name or first name, she'd 'live' with it.

I suppose that main drawback would be all the paperwork required to show who I am when it comes to form filling (and particuarly government related like voting forms). But I changed my title from 'Mrs' to 'Lady'and that hasn't caused too much hassle so far.

The only thing that would bug me a little bit would be the fact that my degree and masters certificates would still be in my maiden name and it would feel almost like they belonged to someone else. But that is a feeling and feelings can be worked on.

So let's take a summarized look at the Pros and Cons. (Perhaps I have missed some, please do let me know if you can think of any more)

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