The Real Mrs.
My name is Cheryl, but you may call me… Mrs. Symons! Yes, I got married in the USA over 6 months ago - and the legal ceremony was in Holland over a year ago - but the Dutch and American governments just couldn’t figure out who had the authority to give me Tim’s last name. Nonetheless, I got news today that the US Consulate has agreed to issue me a passport with the last name Symons :D
A hint of what was to come
When we did the legal ceremony in 2005 in a small village in Holland, they explained to us that my maiden name would remain on the marriage certificate because they couldn’t change it. They said I would need to request a new passport at the US consulate with Tim’s last name, and once I had that, all the other legal documents I had in Holland could be changed. “Whatever” - I wasn’t concerned about the name change at the time; our real wedding, the church wedding, would be in July 2006; I would get my name changed after that.
Call it woman’s intuition
When we returned to Germany from the wedding last year July, I kept delaying the name change because I needed to go in person during the week to the consulate to request it. Work was keeping me busy and going to the US consulate is rarely a pleasant experience, so I decided to wait and request the name change over the Christmas holidays. That would have as advantage that my new name would take effect right around New Year’s, making a clean break of the old name from one year to the next.
There’s always something
Within hours of my requesting the new passport at the consulate, I got a phone call: since my last name on the marriage certificate was not my husband’s name, they could not possibly issue a passport showing I have that name; I would first have to have the certificate corrected. I thought, okay, sounds plausible - it was after all a tiny village where we got married, they probably made a mistake.
The Dutch Model - ask, and wait, and ask again, and wait longer
Over the Christmas holidays, we were in Holland - so I went along to the village where we were married, only to discover it doesn’t exist any more! It merged with the neighboring tiny village, haha. At the new village, I hoped to get a quick fix of the marriage certificate, but it wasn’t until 5 phone calls, 2 visits, and 5 weeks later that I had an official answer: the Dutch government wouldn’t change my name. Ever.
Resolution
If it weren’t for an unusually, and I mean unusually, thoughtful, dedicated man in the Passports department of the US consulate - who we’ll call Mr. S - there would be no resolution to this story. Luckily for me, Mr. S was able to take the official answer from the Dutch government and, based on that, process the passport name change request again: this time with a good result. Thanks, Mr. S - you are the first and most definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me at a US Consulate!
on January 31st, 2007 at 15:15
“Mrs. Symons”? whoa, sounds so formal, like, are you an elementary school teacher? i guess people can call me Mr. Dimes, or Mr. Quarters, or even Mr. Penny, but I will settle for Mr. Nichols. my wife and i chose to keep her maiden name (Lucy Jordan). Else we’d have to refer to her as Lucy Nichols, I don’t know about you, but the thought of calling my lifemate something akin to spare change just isn’t pleasant. one would think i married her for her coin collection. We were thinking about Tony Jordan, but when I didn’t fit into the dress for our wedding, we went off it.