I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. What happens after I get married in November?
If you look through my archives, you’ll see that I’ve been blogging on and off since February 2004. Most of my entries then had the typical “Tagalog-English” lingo (if you don’t speak Filipino by nature, I would really suggest you to not attempt to read them hehe). I’m quite embarrassed to admit that most of those entries had no substance, just random daily ramblings. Oh, well. Everyone needs to start somewhere right? I wouldn’t say my entries are fantastic now, but at least they now make some sense 😀
It’s nice to look at the “evolution” of one’s writing style sometimes. It’s self-serving, yes, but quite entertaining. And me, I know my blogging style has changed quite a lot. Heck, Kutitots started as a Flash personal site, an online playground, and now has evolved to mainly a blog. Frankly, I’ve gotten tired of having to update stuff manually in Flash. There’s a way to automate that, but I didn’t want to burden myself with it.
Anyway, looking back like this made me realize that it really takes time to establish a “self-brand” on the Net. It took me almost three years to have “Gail Dela Cruz” equate to “Kutitots,” at least in the local community. In the WordPress world, people know me as the author behind the Filipino-titled themes I’ve released so far (Dapit Hapon, Kurtina, and Isla). It took me a while to actually get the top spot on the Google search for “Gail Dela Cruz.”
Which brings me back to the surname issue.
It’s a culture thing. Women take the surname of their husbands when they get married and abandon their father’s name. I guess our ancestors never anticipated that women will get careers too in the future. 😛
By the end of November this year, I’ll no longer be “Gail Dela Cruz,” but “Gail Villanueva.”
Marc and I have actually discussed this already. We both know that I can’t just change my surname, since it’s basically my “brand name” on the Net. That’s why I’ll be using “Gail Dela Cruz-Villanueva” instead. It’s kinda long, but it’s best compromise to keep the “brand name” and at the same time acknowledge my change in marital status. I’ll also still keep my domain name… As for my credit line on my WordPress themes… That, I still don’t know. What do you guys think? Marc and I haven’t really talked about that yet. And I myself don’t know if it’s better to just keep it “Gail Dela Cruz” on my themes’ credit line. Ideas? I’m open for suggestions.
I know some people may think I’m making such a big deal about this, but the “Kutitots-Gail Dela Cruz” thing is how I have gotten most of my clients. It’s a big deal for me. If my work wasn’t tied to it, I probably wouldn’t have cared. But it is. Changing my name is like having a rebrand for a business.
Ah well. I’ll just cross the bridge when I get there 😛
Oo nga no.. parang trademark mo na yung Gail Dela Cruz. Ok na rin yung Gail Dela Cruz-Villanueva since most of the POPULAR people does that. 🙂
Hi Gail,
I also went thru that predicament before but I wasn’t as sikat as you. Although, I have already made a name-professionally.
You can always use your original name “screen name” on the web but in real life all documents should have your married name. I had to legally change my name First Name-Maiden Last Name-Husbands-Last Name because I didn’t want to drop my father’s last name.
Take care,
tina
everything will be alright hehe.. sorry for not visiting.. I just got back from church camp hehe …
naks malapit na pala kasal niyo.
lumipat ako domain, haha
Congrats on the upcoming nuptuals! For any new themes you should add Villanueva and as long as your site is refrenced everyone will know who you are.
By Gail Villanueva (or the artist formerly known as Gail Dela Cruz) 🙂
I dunno… Will people searching for “Gail Villanueva” in the future find pages showing “Gail Dela Cruz – Villanueva”?
Or perhaps it’s time to build a non-full name brand? “Designed by Kutitots” 🙂
Thanks, guys. Good to know I’m somehow “on the right track” here… I dunno… Maybe I’m just nervous about the whole marriage thing. OR I’m just really attached to my name hehehe 😀
MANUEL: You know what? I’ve seriously considered that… Until Marc asked me if I’m willing to be called something that literally means “FLEAS.” Ahh well. Not everybody will know what it means until I explain it right? 😆
i don’t know, i’m a big fan of rejecting blatantly sexist cultural artifacts.
in lieu of that, i would suggest that if ‘gail dela cruz – kutitots’ is your brand name, why change it? your personal identity can be soft linked to that, it doesn’t need to be the exact same.
ADAM: excellent point. i am definitely taking that into consideration when my fiance and i talk over this again. 🙂
You have the option to keep your maiden name — that’s what I did. After all, I’ve used that name in all my publications and it would just confuse people if I were to suddenly go by “Mercedes Ramesh”. But then, also your Ninong Ramesh really doesn’t have a surname. His complete name, Visvanathan Ramesh, consists of his father’s first name (Visvanathan) and his own (Ramesh). For convenience, he uses Ramesh like he would a surname. Anyway, thought I’d put in my 2 cents and remind you that you don’t have to change your surname to that of your husband’s especially if you’ve established yourself with that name in your chosen profession.