Changing last name

If it asks for your name you would put your current name. Where it asks for your new last name, you would put whatever you are changing it to. If you have questions I would suggest you contact the clerks office of wherever you are getting married, they would know best.

“New last name” is whatever last name you’ll be taking after marriage. I was changing my name to my husband’s, so I put his last name. If you’re not changing your name, you’d put your current name. If you were hyphenating, you’d put that there. If you are changing your name to his, you would not put your current last name there, though you would use your current last name where you fill out your personal information.

With name examples: If I’m Jane Doe and marrying John Deer and will be changing my last name, I need to fill out the whole form as Jane Doe, and then where it asks for New Last Name, I put Deer. The form wouldn’t work if I put my name as Jane Deer for the whole personal
Information section, because Jane Deer isn’t marrying John Deer— Jane Doe is. Technically, Jane Deer doesn’t exist yet and won’t until the officiant signs and files the license, so she can’t fill out a form— only Miss Doe can!

The only reason I can think of where you would put both your last name and his is if you are trying to legally have two last names. I have heard a lot of people say that is a legal and logistical nightmare, by the way. Whatever you decide, you put the name you are choosing to go by after marriage where it says "New Last Name".



Yasmine is right. Laws can vary by county and state so call the Circuit Court Clerk's Office for the area in which you are filing your marriage license if you have questions.

Your new last name is whatever you want your last name to be after you get married. It makes more of a difference in some states than it does in others, but in Massachusetts, where I live, if you want to change it to something other than what you put on your marriage license, you have to get a court order to change it later on, so it's definitely worth filling it out correctly.

That being said, if you still have to go in person to actually sign and pay for the license, you can probably change it when you get there. I put HisLastName as my "name after marriage" on the online form, but after realizing that I wouldn't be able to change my middle name (easily) I put MyLastName HisLastName in that section when we went to city hall for our appointment, so that's what's on our marriage certificate and is now my legal last name.