Did you know that I might need a new name when we become Turkish citizens?
I mean, names I’ve considered: Ink Ognito (only when I want to stay in hiding), Paige Turner (overdone?), Ima Pseudonym…
Seriously, though. Apparently Turkish society is still — shall I say — a bit behind on women’s rights.
When we got married in 2001, I made a last-minute decision to keep my own last name. While I was thrilled to become his life-partner, even at the ripe age of 27, I felt like changing my name meant changing my deep-down identity. So, I didn’t change.
Yet, after we had already committed to the citizenship process, our attorney told us that in most cases, husband and wife need to have the same last name. I was gobsmacked, to say the least.
But I wasn’t going to let that stop our citizenship application. I just thought, “gee, after 50 years, I’ll have to teach myself a new way to sign my name.”
On this recent trip, however, our attorney filled out our paperwork with our legal American names for both of us — and told us to cross our fingers that it would go through. I still don’t know.
I guess it might be cool to have two identities either way?
Interestingly, when applying for Turkish citizenship, you can opt to change your name to anything. The thought briefly crossed our minds to create new Turkish names for each of us, but we quickly discarded it due to overall logistical challenges.
However, it would be super convenient to have a Turkish name when we visit an Espresso Lab, the only chain which insists on putting a name on a cup Starbucks-style (funnily enough, even when there’s no crowd). I have had mixed results trying to communicate my first name to staff, and got this interesting result from one of my visits:
On future visits, I learned to hold up the credit card I used, point at the spelling of my name, and hope for the best. (Worked, mostly, the last time I went to Espresso Lab — they’re more expensive, so not a frequent stop for us, but I looooove their Green Plum drink!)
Overall, there is a fair amount of gender equality in major cities like Istanbul. So, the possible name change surprised us. Hopefully they accept our attorney’s current application with my legal American name!