Coincidentally I was talking to a woman today who's been divorced twenty years. She kept her married name for the kids' sake. Now she's moved back to the area where she grew up, where folks remember as her maiden name. She wishes in retrospect that she'd changed it at the time of the divorce.
It comes down to choice. Did I want to remain Mrs. X knowing that the former spouse was remarrying ASAP? Eh.. not really.. but who cares. Oddly enough his new wife kept her maiden name.
My married last name is two Waterford patterns and marks me as Irish as they come. My maiden name was a non ethnic name, simple even though folks had difficulty saying and spelling it.
I think it's what fits best. And if it really bugs me in the future, I'll go through the hassle of changing it. But I did get the feeling that the former spouse was not too pleased that I opted to keep the name.
And who knows.. you may have been hurt that she didn't want to keep your last name.
The legal end of divorce is pure business. The emotional part feels whiplash from what is so simply extracted from the soul.
