Photographed by Winnie Au.
As more and more women remain prominent figures in the professional world after marriage, the conversation regarding surnames is increasing. Women taking the last name of their legal partner has been a tradition for centuries, but it's quickly becoming commonplace for a married woman to stick with her maiden name after the ceremony. It could be a sign of our times. For example, social media outlets, despite being easy to join, are notoriously strict when it comes to changing a user's identity. Facebook and Twitter aside, Gmail has been at the brunt of the conversation.
As it turns out, it takes a little more digital elbow grease to change one's actual e-mail address. In most cases, someone looking to change their official e-mail address has to create a completely new account, in addition to having all the mail from their previous account forwarded to their new one. And, it's not just e-mail servers: The same goes for Etsy users. All account information, purchase history, and favorite shops are essentially lost when a user wishes to change their identity.
For those going through a personal, digital identity crisis, Reputation.com is a tool to help. Michael Fertik, the site's founder, told the Daily Mail that most of his clients are professional women "reluctant to give up all the equity they've built up in their careers, in their names, and so forth." Fertik and his team help guide their clients through the process, and even help them renege if they decide against the change. However, the steps towards completely revamping your digital identity are so convoluted and time-consuming that most women are ditching the milestone of taking their partner's name. Which, of course, means balancing two identities on the reg, but we often play so many roles in one day (professional, caretaker, friend, parent), that adding a name to each role is easy as pie. (The Daily Mail)