Recently, I have been trying to figure out what I’m going to change my name to when I get married.  There are certainly many choices, such as the hyphened last name, the two last names, just your husband’s last name, etc.  But, what makes this more challenging for me, is that changing my name means changing my byline in newspapers.

For the last 8 years, I have gone by Jessica Masulli.  If you were to search my name, I would have a decent amount of articles come up at various newspapers like the Bullet and Free Lance-Star.  At some points, I was mistakenly put as Jess Masulli, but always the word Masulli was there to be found.

Now, I’m confused.  If I completely change my name, everything related to Masulli will be gone.

If I take my fiance’s last name, I will be Jessica Reyes.  I like this, but I’m hesitant to lose all the work I have done prior to getting married.  Hispanic culture dictates that you keep both, to be Jessica Masulli Reyes.  This works too.  Could this be my new byline?

For a journalist, or any writer for that matter, the name is a connection to their work.  Changing it is a big deal, especially in an age when I can expect that any employer will search my name to find my work.  I don’t have an answer yet, but I’d love to hear what other writers might think about this.