When I got married, I was thrilled to bits to change my last name. Shorter, easier to spell, right in the middle of the alphabet – I love my married name for all those reasons. I have many strong and independent friends who have chosen to take their husbands’ names as well: Cathy, Aimee, Rita and Laura, just to name a few.
Not everyone agrees. Kristen and Catherine both kept their maiden names. Liz isn’t married; for her, there’s no question of maiden vs. married name. Like me, Erin kept her maiden name as her middle name; unlike me, she goes by all three names. Tracey hyphenated. I still can’t remember which one is Katie’s maiden name and which is her married name.
When I book flights for myself, I use my given first name (Juliet) and my married last name. But when other people have made reservations for me, such as when I traveled for work, they used my nickname (Julie) and my married last name. Meanwhile, both my passport and my driver’s license have all three names on them – given first name, middle maiden name, and married last name.
These minor discrepancies haven’t posed a problem in the past, but after reading an article in the Sunday Denver Post, I wondered if they might: “TSA slowly is rolling out its Secure Flight passenger identification program, which calls for airlines to ensure that travelers book flights in the same name that appears on their government-issued IDs – the identification passengers show to screeners at security checkpoints.”
So if I book a flight as Firstname Lastname and then arrive at the airport with either my passport or my driver’s license, both of which identify me as Firstname Middlename Lastname, what will happen?
According to the TSA website, nothing. In fact, the information there is surprisingly reassuring: “Secure Flight is a behind-the-scenes process that TSA and airlines collaborate on to compare the information you provide against government watch lists.” That is, the TSA officer checking IDs isn’t going to pull me out of line due to the discrepancy between my names because neither of them are on a government watch list (as far as I know, anyway).
Secure Flight is actually very much the same process that’s currently in place; it’s just being transferred to TSA in accordance with directives of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004:
“Secure Flight conducts uniform prescreening of passenger information against federal government watch lists for domestic and international flights. TSA is taking over this responsibility from aircraft operators who, up until now, have been responsible for checking passengers against government watch lists.”
How does the name matching come in? As TSA advises:
“Passengers should provide their name as it appears on their government-issued ID they plan to use when traveling. This provides TSA the best information possible to use when performing watch list matching. This will result in a better process for travelers and greatly reduces the number of misidentifications. By adding date of birth and gender, the number of misidentifications is reduced further and can more readily identify passengers who do not pose a threat.”
It’s not a requirement per se; it’s a courtesy to make TSA’s job easier – ensuring that there’s no doubt that your name doesn’t match any of those on the watch lists. In fact, “Secure Flight strives to facilitate air travel for legitimate passengers by reducing the number of individuals who are misidentified through more effective watch list matching.” That is, mistaken identifications are less likely for people who have names similar to someone on the watch list, particularly when the second phase of Secure Flight goes into effect (requiring date of birth and gender to be collected as well).
So the lead-in to the Denver Post article is inaccurate and sensational. Secure Flight does not in fact “[call] for airlines to ensure that travelers book flights in the same name that appears on their government-issued IDs”; rather “the name you provide is used to perform the watch list matching before a boarding pass is ever issued, so small differences should not impact your travel.” Small differences – like the ones cited in the Denver Post article and my personal example – will not pose a problem.
I’ve observed many differences in actual practice of TSA policy while traveling since 9/11. Sometimes my laptop can go in the same bin as other items, sometimes it can’t. Sometimes my bottle of CleanWell antibac holds me up (“Ma’am, you should put this in a plastic baggie”), sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes Oliver has to take off his shoes, sometimes he doesn’t. TSA has a long way to go in terms of consistency.
(No, I’m not kidding about the shoes. Who knew Robeez could be used to conceal the stuff of bombs?)
From what I’ve read, Secure Flight sounds like an improvement for all of us – especially those who aren’t among the “400,000 people on a consolidated terrorist watch list maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center, an FBI unit…95 percent [of which] are not U.S. citizens” but who may have a name similar to someone on that list.
In the meantime, I encourage the Denver Post to fact-check more closely before they publish potentially incendiary pieces on the front page of a major section of their Sunday paper.
Married ladies, did you change your name? Do your government-issued IDs match? Do you think you’re on the watch list?
I was one who took my husband’s last name and made my maiden name my middle name. I don’t fly all that much but I fret about everything, so I’m sure i”ll worry about any discrepancy the next time I fly!
Had I known that your first name is Juliet, I would’ve been calling you that a lot sooner. I love, love, love that name. Though I guess you don’t really seem like a Juliet to me, regardless, love your ‘real’ name.
I kept my name when I married TWN. Here (Canada), since we use passports, we’ve always been told to use the same name as is on the passport. If you have a middle name on there and forget it, it’s probably not a big deal, but the first and last names should be accurate.
Interestingly, Geekling has my last name. We decided, when I was pregnant, that since we don’t really like hyphenating we’d use my last name for a girl and his for a boy. Geekling was girl, and so has Firstname Mylastname with Middlename and TWNlastname as legal registered middle names on her birth certificate. Her passport lists her Given names as First Middle TWNlastname. If or when we have another, they’ll use TWN’s last name and the same convention.
When I got married, I tried everything I could to get my husband to take my last name, or to merge ours together to become a new one (it totally could have worked, too!). He didn’t go for it, and as much of a feminist-wannabe as I am, I’m also a traditionalist. So I took his last name, but I kept my maiden name as my middle.
My full name – first, maiden, last – is on every government-issued ID card I own. My driver’s license, both of my passports (civilian and gov’t issued for living abroad), and my military ID. I use it any time I sign my name for anything, though I don’t refer to myself as first, maiden, last when introducing myself. Just first-last.
My poor kids. When we got married, I wanted them to have my maiden name as part of their names, and so we agreed that for all our children, their second middle name would be my maiden name. All 4 names are on their birth certificates, as well as their gov’t and civilian passports. That’ll be a headache if I’m required to make plane reservations with all those names listed…
I took my husband’s last name and even though technically my maiden name isn’t my middle name nor any other part of my legal name, I still use it for work. So, in reality, my name is Jill Annette (married name), but on my resume, business cards and other business documents, I’m Jill (maiden name) (married name). It gets a little confusing, but nothing that has caused any major problems.
I worked with a woman who took her husband’s name legally, but still went by her maiden name professionally. It made for very confusing travel arrangements if her admin or whoever booked flights for her didn’t realize.
I kept my maiden name.
In my culture ( I am an Arab from Jordan but live in Canada) nobody adopts the husbands name, women are very proud of their own family history as it plays a big role in our society. Family name is a big deal in the Arab world.
The problem here in Canada though everyone assumes I have my husbands name and they call my kids with my maiden name and I have to correct them all the time.
On our honeymoon I booked all the flights so my husband was being called Mr fadi the whole trip. HAHAHAHA CRACKED ME UP!
there’s no question i’m on SOMEONE’S watch list. I am both American AND Canadian. I took my husband’s last name when I got married, but on my US passport and my Canadian citizenship card, I use my maiden name. on my driver’s license and health card, I use my married last name.
gah.
I kind of changed my last name. Kind of. I just tacked my married name onto the end of my maiden name. It’s long now: Schlothan Christensen. But what it ultimately came down to for me was that I had qualms about leaving behind the name that cleaved me unto my own family and taking a name that I would share with my husband’s family. It’s not that I don’t like them or get along with them, it’s just…they aren’t MY siblings, MY mother, MY father, MY uncle, MY aunt, etc. There were other difficulties and my husband and I fought up one side and down the other. In the end, he conceded that I could keep my maiden name.
So I tacked on his name because I appreciated that he’d make that sacrifice. And in exchange, he added Schlothan to his middle name, so that we were basically even. I was honoring him and his family, he was honoring me and my family, and we called it a day.
We’re lucky in that all of our IDs match our names, but both of us keep outdated, expired IDs (one passport, one DL, and the initial SSN card) just in case. And those have come in handy more than once, although it’s never been an issue at the airport. I have one consistent problem with my name: medical forms are one character too short. And my husband has two problems with his: the library card is under his old name and they verify with the DL here, and his jury duty summons always show up under an abbreviated version of his name. Which is a problem because they verify your ID at the courthouse too.
I actually called the airlines recently, when news that this new regulation would go into effect on May 15 made me concerned about my return flight for a trip. According to the airline rep, you should book in the name that your license/passport shows to avoid hassle, BUT it is more a big deal if you use a nickname for the first name than if your middle name/initial is used or not. So, Juliet/Julie differences in your first name will create more difficulty for you than whether one has middle name and the other doesn’t. Also, lots of airlines still only have an option for middle initial on a ticket; rep said that if the middle initial on ticket says P. and your id says your middle name is Petunia, you’ll be okay, so long as first names are exact. Airline rep told me that this will be phased in, but that it really will matter that the names match, and that technically they can deny you boarding if the names are too far off. For whatever that’s worth. I too went to the TSA site to verify. Honestly, I think it matters less what that site says than what the airline security people THINK the rules are (hence why sometimes kid shoes have to come off and other times they don’t). For that reason alone, I will be very careful in booking all of our tickets in future.
Oh, and if you’re taking a survey, I made my maiden name my middle name, and then took my husband’s name at the end. I only use all three for professional things.
I kind of regret taking my husband’s name — I liked my old name. But I didn’t want to be the only one in my (new–husband + eventual kids) with a different name.
I’ve never had a problem with any of my IDs, but my mother–who sometimes flies 3-4 times a week– ended up on that watch list for awhile. Was a huge pain.
I was so excited to change my last name and am still happy with it. But I can see how some women might want to keep their maiden name. I was so annoyed when I had to remove Ivy’s shoes for a flight recently. And I don’t think I knew your real name was Juliet. That’s my favorite girl name ever.
Steph
I did take my husband’s last name and it took me a long time to adjust to using it. I had an easy last name…think something like cook, baker, etc. and now have a last name people mispronounce and misspell all the time. It’s frustrating, but I never really considered NOT changing my name. I guess I am old fashioned in some ways.
I kept my birth name (I don’t think I’ve ever been a maiden). And believe me, it’s not like I’ve got an easy last name or anything – but it’s mine and I came with it.
What’s more, we gave our daughter my last name, because I’m a rebel. It was our one and only pre-nuptial agreement: boys would get his last name, girls would get mine.
It totally depends on what airport you’re at. My husband, FIL, and son all share the same “firstname lastname”, which also happens to be on the terrorist watch list…
It used to cause tons of searches and delays and we couldn’t do things like online check-in or flying standby, but lately they’ve haven’t had any problems breezing through security.