Passports for internal travel?????

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

43. If you never changed your name, your marital status is

irrelevant.

You started life as Baby Girl Whatsername, and even though you married Mr. Man, you remained Girl Whatsername.

As someone who married, never changed her name, had two kids who had their father's surname, I (other than mildly annoying things like someone who kept on wanting to know what my "maiden name" was) have never had a problem.

Back when I was first married and had not assumed my husband's surname, some people expressed surprised and asked what we'd do when there were children. I always pointed out that the divorce rate in this country was so high, and so many people married a second time, that in many families someone had a different last name. Big deal.

When I took my kids to the doctor, they never cared so long as I had the correct insurance information. The schools never cared.

It often happened that my sons' friends would call me Ms Smith (their surname) rather than Ms Jones (my surname) but that never bothered me. They were being appropriately polite, and I didn't need to go into the different surname thing. Eventually they all learned I had a different last name, but it was never a big deal.

Oh, and I always joked that I would happily sign a check with my first name and my husband's last name on it, and come to think of it, I did that more than once. I'd sign Sally Smith Jones and no bank ever refused the check.

I want to emphasize that these incidents were always trivial, especially compared to the hassles women go through if they did change their name and don't have good documentation. Even worse, something very common here in New Mexico, is people who have one name on their birth certificate, but have always gone by a slightly different name. Now the DMV cares a great deal about those differences. Sigh.