Time was, when Susy Simpkins married Mr Smith she became Mrs Smith.
Except that the right ‘Susy Smith’ (9,750 results) is a lot harder to track down on google than ‘Susy Simpkins’ (3 results).
And if you thought it was a hassle changing the name on your bank account, passport and driving licence, try adding your work and personal email, twitter, LinkedIn and facebook to the list.
I’ve started to notice that some of my friends are keeping their maiden name for work – and online too. In the unlikely event that I managed to persuade someone to marry me, I’d be tempted to keep my surname as I’m unique on google and enjoy dream search results (page one includes my blog, twitter, LinkedIn and flickr). On the other hand, perhaps I’m a bit too findable…
There’s a similar dilemma for businesses too – and I’m not just talking about consumer brands. Its all very well planning a lovely re-brand, but what about all the online brand equity you (should have) invested in and built up across social media? You won’t just need new business cards, you’ll need a new twitter handle, blog URL and so on as well.
With the naming of new brands becoming increasingly defined by which URLs are still available, I can foresee a serious fall in enthusiasm for rebrandings as they become a technological nightmare.
This is something I’ve thought about a lot recently, as my fiance is trying to steer me towards changing my name once we get married.
Like you, I also enjoy (well, sometimes I lament them as well) my insanely findable Google results. My name is very SEO friendly, which is good for my blog, LinkedIn, etc, but not so good when the ‘blasts from the past’ want to find me.
I’m definitely not going to change my name professionally (all that work!), but changing it privately and just changing all the legal and financial stuff (passport, credit card, etc) is something I’m considering, but not certain at all about.
From a business point of view, I agree that once businesses become more savvy, then rebrandings will become a lot more considered (and more painful!).