Name changing in academia

[Inyo]

I have an incredibly common name. Think something along the lines of "Kate Smith." My While I have a few papers in the review process, the only "publications" I have under my name are posters (5 of them). I do have a very unique full name (Think "Kate McDouglehousen Smith") that I've tried to use as my digital presence, but you find very few things when you google my full name (granted, I control them all, so there's power in that). And many journals/conferences won't list a full name (they go for "K. M. Smith" instead). There is, in fact, another "Kate M. Smith" who publishes in a related field to my own (she's in math ed and I'm in science ed). 

 

I'm getting married in three months, and I am largely indifferent to changing my name. The upside would be that I'd end up with a far less common, but not totally unique name. 

 

In terms of a possible future as an academic, would it matter to have the more unique name? I do tend to Google people to find information about their work, but right now, it's extremely hard for someone to Google me, unless they have my middle name. My current name is common enough that even if someone Googled "Kate Smith + future institution name" they'd likely find a couple of people. 

 

All things being equal, I'm unlikely to change my name upon marriage mostly because I hate paperwork and I don't want to change my name in a million places (SSN card, DMV, main bank, credit card, car loan, insurance.... so many places...). That said, if there would be a significant value to my career to have the less common name, I think I could stomach the paperwork. 

 

Do people think it's worth it? And are there other women around who have changed their name before starting/while in grad school? I'd appreciate hearing other's experiences. 

[fuzzylogician]

This discussion is quite old but it's very relevant:

[Inyo]

Thanks, that was interesting! 

 

I'm still curious if people have opinions on the benefits of a unique name vs. a very common one. 

[fuzzylogician]

Well, I have a unique name (google it and you only find me). It's a combination of a first name from one language and a surname from another language, both not clearly Western. People do just fine with my surname but normally aren't sure what to do with my first name. They often assume I'm male and from a completely different culture than I am, and will pronounce it with an incorrect stress pattern (which I wouldn't mind except often it means I don't recognize what people are saying as my name). So for everyday things I have a starbucks name and for anyone who actually needs my name I will spell it and in the end it'll work out. So honestly for my everyday life I often think it would have been much simpler if I had a simple common name. For academic things I think it's helpful to have a recognizable last name such that if it appears in a citation you immediately know it's me. I think that is indeed an asset and I don't think I'd want to change it. But I don't think I would change my name just to make it unique if I had a common name. 

[Seeking]

Well, I have been a victim of this.

 

I have a name that is incredibly common - wherever I go I find at least a dozen people having the same name - and often also surname - as mine. People often confuse me for someone else and I have to explain to them that I am a different person.

 

But all this was fine till I published a book - from an international publisher. Most libraries across the world confused me with another author having the same name and surname as me, who writes in a related field.

 

As a result, my book across the world in libraries and book-selling sites got catalogued as this other author's book and I went through hell to get it changed. Many of them asked me to get a statement from my publisher as evidence and my publisher refused to give a statement. Even now, this book is sold on many websites as someone else's book. I have given up now as I can't keep on pursuing millions of websites asking them to change the entry. Of course, I'll never publish with this publisher again. This other author never came out to say that this book was not written by them and I couldn't find their contacts online.

 

I have managed to get the entry corrected in most major libraries across the world, but still there may be a few where my book is wrongly entered.

 

Now, I am thinking of publishing my next book in another name, but my worry is, how do I prove then to the academic world that I am the same person as the name printed on this book?

 

I don't want to officially change my name because of the hassles involved. 

 

While I had to go through all this just because of my common name, I do know of a European academic who works on India and writes in an Indian name without changing the name officially - but they began to use this Indian name early, so it has stuck to them. If I use a different name after publishing a book, I don't know how I can prove that I am the same person as the one known officially, if I don't change my name in official records. 

 

It's not just about being searched in Google. It's a much greater problem if you are publishing and want to be recognized for your work if you have a common name.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Seeking

[TakeruK]

I don't think it's a huge problem if you have a common name. When I'm looking for an academic with a very common name, I usually do a search like "Kate Smith + school + discipline". That usually gets me to their academic/research webpage, if they have one. Then, if I want to find a paper they did, or find out what they have written, I look for this on the website. It's much easier to do this than to search through databases such as Google Scholar because it's hard to tell which K Smith is you. So, I would recommend creating your own webpage with a list of all of your publications. It would be super duper helpful if you regularly updated it and provided DOI links to all of your papers so that people can go to the journal website directly and download them. I think most people nowadays are technologically savvy enough to understand how to find a certain person online, even one with a common name.

 

Other tips to help identify yourself as the K. Smith they are looking for is to have a clear photo of yourself on your webpage and maybe even a short bio with your hobbies and interests. Assuming that you will talk about these things if you meet someone at a conference and then they later try to look you up, hopefully the photo and personal info will help them confirm they did indeed have found the right person. Also, I would include your email on your webpage and usually the corresponding author has their email published with the paper, so if someone did a search by email address, they would be able to find you too.

 

I don't think it's that bad to have a common name since it's unlikely that people will just randomly try to look you up. They will usually have some starting point that will help them confirm your identity! For example, they might have met you at a conference, or maybe they have just read an interesting paper you wrote and want to find out more about you. So, just make sure that there is a "path" for them to find you for most common starting points. Even if you are not the corresponding author, your name would be listed with an affiliation. If it's an old school, try to get the old department to allow you to maintain a webpage with them that redirects users to your new school!

[TeaGirl]

I don't have common name at all, but if you don't want to change your name yet be easily searchable academically, then you need to help the search engines. Like Takeruk said, have a webpage or place where you have your bio and picture online. Go to websites like Google scholar, Microsoft academia, and other relevant places, and update your list of publications, add an institutional associations, field associations, and provide a photo if you want to. I'm sure people will be able to find you if they need to just by adding a couple of details.

[juilletmercredi]

I don't think it's worth it.  Once you are relatively well established, it'll be easier to Google you.  People who really want to find you will search "Kate Smith University of X" and maybe there are three Kate Smiths at that university, but they'll wade through and find you.  Or on pubmed, they'll search "Kate Smith underwater basketweaving."

 

I legally changed my name in August - my husband is John Smith, and I am Sally Johnson, so I changed my legal name to Sally Johnson Smith (Johnson my middle name, Smith my legal surname).  But I still intend to publish under Sally Johnson, and go by Dr. Johnson in the classroom once I obtain my PhD.  My school records are all still under Sally Johnson (partially because I am too lazy to change them).  My CV and my email signature say Sally Johnson Smith, but all my publications (before and after the change) are listed under Sally Johnson.  My diploma will say Sally Johnson.

 

Functionally it has made very little difference in my life, since people know me as Sally Johnson and I introduce myself as Sally Johnson unless I'm in a social and completely non-professional situation, in which case I introduce myself as Sally Smith or Sally Johnson Smith.  Changing it wasn't worth the trouble it took.  I originally had no intention of changing my name, but I was discussing it briefly with my husband the day before I got married and he casually mentioned that he would like it if we had the same legal surname.  He didn't put any pressure on me, and honestly he didn't care either way, but I decided to change it legally because I knew he would like it.  I don't regret my decision but it's just completely unnecessary.  All the paperwork and confusion and mess…ugh.  If I had a more unique last name or particularly liked my last name I would've just let it be.

[Queen of Kale]

So I'm married and I never changed my last name but I have thought about it many times for the same reason.  My name is also super common but my husband's name is quite unique.  To this point my "publications" are limited to a few posters and a conference abstract.  I've been thinking about it in particular lately as I have to decide what name to put on my diploma from my undergraduate institution.  I doubt I will ever hang it in my office, and it seems like a small gesture, but I know using my husband's name would make him happy.  Plus, it would be the first of what I think might be many instances of my using his name professionally while not legally changing it.  But, I sort of go back and forth on it, not because I care a bit about my name but because my mother (of all people) pitched like a 6 month fit when I got married and wanted to change my name.  She actually stopped speaking to me for awhile, it was insane.  So there's an added "activation energy" barrier for me but its something I think about quite often and I'm thinking of taking the plunge also.

[Grev]

In a semi-related question, how do you all feel about publishing with your first name, or with an initial or what?  I have what I feel is a very "little girl" sounding first name, and a very common last name.  My first name isn't a diminutive of anything, but it sounds a little bit fluffy and has an alternate spelling I'm always having to explain.  Think "Pansie Smith".

 

I've had problems in informal settings where people don't take me as seriously (between the name and being short, it's a pain), and I wonder how much of this might carry over into my professional life. 

 

I've considered initialing, "P. Smith", but I'm not sure I like that better.  Anyone else have thoughts on this? 

[kingspeech]

How do you go about putting a name other than your legal one on your diploma, and publishing under it?

[TakeruK]

How do you go about putting a name other than your legal one on your diploma, and publishing under it?

 

At both schools I've graduated from, when you apply for graduation, they always say something like they will be using the legal name you used when you were admitted to the school, and if you would like to have something else, you need to bring papers to the registrar's office to get that name changed. In my home province, spouses are entitled to assume/use their spouse's last name without a legal name change, so a marriage certificate is enough to convince the registrar to change your name to your married one (or back to your unmarried last name). I suppose you could call the assumed last name another "legal name", and then a married person (in my home province) technically has two legal names they can use as they please.

 

As for publishing, there's no identity verification for your name. You can publish under whatever name you want -- but if you submit a paper as I. R. Superman or something, they might try to do an identity check. However, I suspect that as long as you can get your school department's directory to list you as the name you want to publish under / be known as, then that will probably be enough for journals to verify that I. R. Superman is indeed affiliated with Metropolis University. I say this because on papers where I am a co-author, there was exactly zero correspondence between the journal and me. It's up to me to ensure that our first author spelled my name correctly etc.

[abeilles]

I'll admit, it's nice being the only result on google! the downside is that my name is often misspelled and almost always mispronounced... but it's worth it to me : )

[Tuck]

I know that no one who is getting married wants to hear this, but the lifelong probability of a marriage ending in divorce is substantial. You just never know what could happen in 5, 10, 20, 40, etc. years. People change, people surprise you no matter how well you think you know them, and you may even surprise yourself.

 

I know many divorced women in academia who feel obligated to keep someone else's name for professional continuity, and it can really stink - even moreso if you remarry.

 

Therefore, I feel that the potential pitfalls of having a common name are less problematic than the possibility (no matter how remote) of getting divorced and having to deal with the name issue again when you are more established in your career. And, as others have noted, there are many ways to mitigate having a common name.

 

You can always keep your surname for legal and professional purposes while using your husband's surname socially/informally.

[student12345]

My name is close to Nicolas Cage's; it is some combination of his middle name and the rest of it. Hopefully I will become more well-known than him and overshadow him on google. But until then I cling to the hope that he does not become an academic and establish a presence on mathscinet; in which case I will have to change my own name to have any hope of becoming recognizable.

[lypiphera]

I got married recently, and went a bit in a different direction - my last name was fairly unique (meaning hard to pronounce and spell for people), whereas my husband's was short and easy.  I didn't think too much about people searching to find me (maybe I should have!), I changed my name to my husband's because it seemed easier in life in general (e.g. less spelling my name over the phone).  It seemed like the right time to do it because I was applying to graduate school, so I could change before I had a lot of publications under my maiden name.  I did have a few posters and one paper, but they aren't exactly in the specialization I am going into, so it's less important to me if they aren't found.

 

As for searching, there are a lot more people with my new name (19 on LinkedIn) than there were with my old name (2 on LinkedIn), but if they search for social psychology and/or my institution, I think I'd be the only one - it's not so common as other people are discussing.  The toughest comparison is actually my sister-in-law, who i now have the same name as, and she is in sociology!  Oh well.  I plan to keep my Microsoft Academic and Google Scholar pages, etc., maintained, so that it will be hopefully easy to find me and the things I've written.  It's not a problem to list publications that have your maiden name on them.  I also plan to use my full first-middle-last name when possible, because I am definitely the only one with that.

 

Someone mentioned divorce, and while that is of course obviously a possibility, I wouldn't let it rule your decision making if you want to change your name.  A professor I know was divorced, and she was very well known with her married name with quite a publication record, so she kept her married name after the divorce.  There are ways to deal with it.

 

I went through all the name change paperwork just recently, and it was not a huge deal.  I used a web service (Missnowmrs.com) where you put in all your information and it generates it on the forms you need so that you don't need to find the forms or fill out all the repetitive information again.  I think that it's usually $30; I spent $15 with a Groupon for it, totally worth it for the time it saved.  It was a bit of a hassle, but it's over now and wasn't a big deal.

 

My final piece of advice is to really think about just what you want, personally, ignoring career logistics momentarily.  Really spend some time thinking about what you would like to be called, what feels right to you.  There's nothing wrong with either choice, and either will work out fine in the end.