Need advice in rebranding? Ask your wife

I’ve been involved in quite a few rebrands. It’s always a challenge. But when the brand is yourself, it’s a complete pain in the ass. Most married women already know this.

Exactly one year ago I got married. Yes, it’s our anniversary today. Instead of having my wife rebrand herself with her husband’s name, like most women still do, I decided to take hers.

We nordic people consider ourselves very egalitarian, yet only a few of my Finnish friends have taken their wife’s name. Here in Texas I currently know one: myself. I guess the modern thing would’ve been to keep our names as-is, but for us that felt like being independent contractors.

Pros and cons were written down, but I was biased towards taking her family name. I’ve always been drawn to go against convention. Also, we both felt that—branding-wise—it was the better name to go with. Ultimately, something very personal to us convinced me that it was not an option, but the only way: I didn’t want my once-widowed wife to be stuck with my name if something ever happened to me.

So, my wife took back her family name and I took hers. It’s been very egalitarian since we’ve both been going through the exact same name change crap together. After all the red tape limbo, some of my cards and documents still carry my old name. One account needs a court order to change it… sheesh!

Sorry, complaining about it seems man flu-ish. While I’ve been focused on being frustrated, my wife’s been the cool-headed go-to person in our name change-related issues. She’s been the family brand strategist and trademark “attorney” all-in-one. I’m very grateful to my wife for that and countless other things—my name included.