Are surnames important?

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

I’ve been considering a lot my last name and what it means to me. Bengston is my married name, from which I’ve been divorced now for over 3 years now. I’ve kept my married name for simplicity’s sake. Bengston is Swedish, I live and work in Finland and despite the advances in equality and inclusion, there is still a blatant favorism for Nordic last names in the job force.

Now that I’m officially on the job hunt again, I’ve been considering my name.

I’ve been wanting to change my married name to a new one for a while now. However my maiden last name is Chaloupka. It’s Czech and not easy for Finns to pronounce. Growing up with a name no one can pronounce and constantly correcting spellings is something I have to consider again. I’ve considered and am pretty serious about choosing a new name. I’ve talked about it with my family and no one seems overly against it. In Finland, you can create a new last name that is Finnish sounding as long as it is not an actual Finnish family name. My options are wide open.

I’ve considered an homage to Chaloupka (which means cottage in Czech) and have a few ideas.

My question is, what is your view or opinion on this topic. Join the conversation on my LinkedIn.

Update July 2022: I have officially made the decision to change my name back to Chaloupka. 🎉