Name change for Doctors

Can diplomas be redone with a married name?

Check with the licensing board to see if you can maintain your current name for your occupation while having a legal name changed for your marriage. There is an earlier discussion where one bride was keeping her maiden name for her professional name but changing her legal name

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/changing-last-name/83ceb4d17801c873.html

Not a doctor but a lawyer. I know that our law license can be reissued with a married name, so I’d assume medical licenses are similar. If hyphenating is too long, you can always just list your maiden names as a middle name. So your diploma would say Jane Smith, your license says Jane Smith Jones, and you practice as Dr. Jones. That’s very common and I doubt you’d get any blowback.


That said, I kept my maiden name in part because I worked very hard to develop my professional reputation under this name and don’t want to lose it by name confusion. I use my husband’s last name socially.

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Exactly! That is exactly how I am feeling. I already have patients that are used to me by my maiden name. I do know of others who change their middle name to their maiden name, but I am personally still on the fence. I am currently leaning towards extending my last name and just dealing with it later as it comes.

Generally it’s legal to call yourself any name you want outside some official context. So even though I haven’t changed my name legally, I’ll introduce myself with his last name in social contexts. I only have to stick to my maiden name in legal contexts like bank accounts, anything needing official ID, and work. So that’s why it was easier for me not to change. If I’d gotten married young or if we were having kids, I probably would’ve changed it legally. It’s a very personal decision and context-dependent.