Hi Angela,

I have been published for about three years in a niche market. I will be getting married and want to change my last name. How can I be sure that people will know I’m still me?

I have already purchased heather-cook.com and forwarded it to my current web site, heathermccutcheon.com. Many have suggested I keep McCutcheon but it is my ex-husband’s name and I’d rather use my new married name. My career has only been three years long at this point and I assume that it will last longer than that going forward so if I have to start from scratch it’s not so bad!

Thank you!

Heather McCutcheon (soon to be Heather Cook)

I was in the same situation as you back in 1999. I got remarried back then and wanted my new husband’s last name, but was already quite well known under my previous last name. What I did was hyphenate my name for about four years and then gradually start to drop the old last name for the new. It worked out great! I still get the occasional email or letter sent to the old last name, but that’s just fine. The vast majority of people know me by my current name now.