I'm seriously considering dropping my last name and legally becoming Claudia Stuart (currently my middle name, and a family name on my mother's side
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"The biggest reason is that I don't want to go by Claudia Weinstock professionally. The two fields I want to work in, theatre and academia, rely a lot on name recognition, so if I start going by Claudia Weinstock, I have to stay Claudia Weinstock, even after I get married, and I'm going to want to take my husband's name."
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"I'm not going to adopt a middle name (that way, like I said, I can just move Stuart back to the middle when I get married),"
It sounds like if you get married, you'll be changing your name regardless, so your former point is negated by the latter.
I personally wouldn't place too much importance on name recognition, but I don't know theater like you do (or at all, for that matter). That said, it sounds like you have very little attachment to the name in the first place, and nobody in your family will seriously object, so why not?
Yeah, that's why it's a little confusing. I don't think I said it clearly. If I stay Claudia Weinstock, then even if I take Theoretical Husband's name legally, I have to stay Claudia Weinstock professionally. That's what I don't want.
I don't mind staying Claudia Stuart professionally, even if I'm Claudia Theoretical Husband legally.
And yes, theater is ALL about name recognition. Even on the producing side of it. That's why SAG and AEA and most performance unions that I know of require there members to have a unique name, because it's part of your "brand," your product. Ever wonder why James Earl Jones goes by all three names? Probably because there was already a working actor that no one has ever heard of named James Jones.
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"I'm not going to adopt a middle name (that way, like I said, I can just move Stuart back to the middle when I get married),"
It sounds like if you get married, you'll be changing your name regardless, so your former point is negated by the latter.
I personally wouldn't place too much importance on name recognition, but I don't know theater like you do (or at all, for that matter). That said, it sounds like you have very little attachment to the name in the first place, and nobody in your family will seriously object, so why not?
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I don't mind staying Claudia Stuart professionally, even if I'm Claudia Theoretical Husband legally.
And yes, theater is ALL about name recognition. Even on the producing side of it. That's why SAG and AEA and most performance unions that I know of require there members to have a unique name, because it's part of your "brand," your product. Ever wonder why James Earl Jones goes by all three names? Probably because there was already a working actor that no one has ever heard of named James Jones.
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