Names and Email Announcements

[Dindrane]

Let's say that Janet Smith has just been hired at ACME & Co.  ACME & Co. is a large company, and the department Janet will be working in is one of the bigger ones (maybe 200 people or so).  Because of her position, she will probably end up working with a very large chunk of those people before too long, but likely won't meet many of them until she has worked at ACME & Co. for several weeks (or months).

Let's also say that Janet Smith is going to be getting married a couple of months after she starts working at ACME & Co., and as a result, will be changing her name to Janet Jones.  When offered the position, she mentioned the upcoming wedding to her supervisor because she wanted some time off.  When discussing the logistics of her hire with HR, she also mentioned (without further detail) that her name would be changing, so that things like her email address and business cards could match the new last name.

On Janet's second day of work, an email announcement on behalf of her supervisor is sent out to the whole department to welcome her, provide some of her professional background, and provide her title and contact information.  In this email, she is named at the beginning as "Janet Smith (soon to be Mrs. James Jones)."

My question to all of you -- if you were Janet, is that something you'd want to have in an email announcement going out to about 200 people, or would you prefer to have the information about your name change/marital status communicated differently?  If you received this email as one of Janet's new colleagues, what would you think?

[ShadesOfGrey]

I'd think it overly-personal for a work email, and therefore inappropriate, but not think much of it in the end, really. 

[CuriousParty]

Meh, I'd think "Oh, she's going to be married soon, how nice for her!  And she'll be changing her name...mental note to remember who Janet Jones is when she suddenly shows up."

I can see that putting this info out there initially ties the two names together with a single person. Hopefully, a couple of months from now, when Janet gets married and the name change goes into effect, you cut down on these exchanges: (especially with people who may not have met her yet and so have no concrete attachment to either name) "Who is Janet Jones?" "Oh, it's Janet Smith." "WHO?" "(Title), she joined the company a couple of months ago." "Oh."  Followed by confusion whenever the meeting does take place (was she Smith and now Jones, or was she Jones and now Smith? Oh who knows).

I'm not much for personal info in the workplace but in this case there seems to me to be a logical reason to share the info ahead of time.

[Dindrane]

Since this scenario is based on a real one I encountered a little while back, I will say that I cringed a bit when I saw the email.  It never became a "thing," at least that I was aware of, but it made me wonder if anyone had actually checked with Janet before sending out the information about her upcoming marriage in that specific way.  Typically, new employees don't see these types of announcements until they've actually been sent out, so it's possible nobody checked with her in advance.

CuriousParty, I definitely agree that tying her name change into her introductory email is helpful for everyone who will be working with her.  I just wonder at the specific use of "Mrs. James Jones," rather than saying "Janet Smith, soon to be Janet Jones" or something similar.

[WillyNilly]

Well I would be beyond offended as being announced Mrs James Jones - I think its extraordinarily unprofessional, as well as out dated and inappropriate.  She will never be "Mrs James Jones" at work.  That at best is a social title.  At work she will become Janet Jones, as opposed to Janet Smith.

But as for the overall announcement of an impending name change "Janet Smith (soon to be Janet Jones)"  I think its fine.  Its not about announcing anything personal in her life per say, but rather giving employees required information.  And really in the way I worded it it could mean marriage... or it could mean an impending divorce - its a neutral way to announce as it doesn't tell the reader anything other then a name change is coming.

[Judah]

Well I would be beyond offended as being announced Mrs James Jones - I think its extraordinarily unprofessional, as well as out dated and inappropriate.  She will never be "Mrs James Jones" at work.  That at best is a social title.  At work she will become Janet Jones, as opposed to Janet Smith.

But as for the overall announcement of an impending name change "Janet Smith (soon to be Janet Jones)"  I think its fine.  Its not about announcing anything personal in her life per say, but rather giving employees required information.  And really in the way I worded it it could mean marriage... or it could mean an impending divorce - its a neutral way to announce as it doesn't tell the reader anything other then a name change is coming.

I agree completely and, minus the "Mrs. James Jones" part, is something that I wouldn't be surprised to find in in box.

[kakack]

My sister found the solution for this problem.  She had a good reputation as an attorney, so to minimize confusion after she got married, she signed everything "Firstname Maidenname Newlastname" for about a year until everyone got used to it.  Now she just goes by her married name.

[blarg314]

I think it's a very practical email.

Her name is going to be changing soon, she's told them about her name change as part of the hiring and practical details of her new job (email accounts, business cards, etc). So it makes sense to let people know directly and simply, so they can adjust, and not get confused because Jane Smith has the email address jjones, and is listed on her business cards as Jane Jones.

If she didn't want it broadcast at the beginning, she could have started work as Jane Smith and then changed things after, or she could have done everything except the financial stuff as Jane Jones from the beginning, to avoid confusions.

[Ceallach]

I think it's a little cringeworth the way it was worded.  I'd go with just announcing her arrival, then perhaps an email at the time noting the name change,   OR  going with the new name to start with.

I started a new job a few weeks before I got married, and we didn't even bother to announce it, the last names were so similar that nobody noticed!   

[MariaE]

Well I would be beyond offended as being announced Mrs James Jones - I think its extraordinarily unprofessional, as well as out dated and inappropriate.  She will never be "Mrs James Jones" at work.  That at best is a social title.  At work she will become Janet Jones, as opposed to Janet Smith.

But as for the overall announcement of an impending name change "Janet Smith (soon to be Janet Jones)"  I think its fine.  Its not about announcing anything personal in her life per say, but rather giving employees required information.  And really in the way I worded it it could mean marriage... or it could mean an impending divorce - its a neutral way to announce as it doesn't tell the reader anything other then a name change is coming.

I agree completely and, minus the "Mrs. James Jones" part, is something that I wouldn't be surprised to find in in box.

I agree completely as well

[Isometric]

Sending an email about the upcoming name change is helpful. But putting "Mrs James Jones" would make me feel like I'd stepped back in time. Names (and Janet's, not her husbands!) without the titles would be more appropriate. TBH I would wonder if the person was have gender reassignment surgery before I would click that's the husbands name, I actually thought there was an error in the OP!

[LifeOnPluto]

Putting "soon to be Janet Jones" is fine. But putting "soon to be Mrs James Jones" is completely inappropriate, IMO. If this happened to me, I would be angry. I'm guessing the person who drafted the email wanted everyone to know that Janet was soon to be changing her name. But they also wanted to avoid people gossiping and speculating that perhaps Janet was getting divorced and reverting to her maiden name. So they figured that by putting "Mrs James Jones" people would realise that she was getting married.

That said, it's absolutely no excuse. It comes off as unprofessional, and has the potential to confuse people. For one thing, I would think "How shall I address Janet in correspondence? Does she want to be referred to as Ms Janet Jones? Or Mrs James Jones?"

I would also privately wonder whether Janet was the one who emphasised that she was becoming "Mrs James Jones", and if so, whether Janet was one of those women who is obsessed with marriage and having her entire world revolve around her husband, etc?

OP, I would personally send a brief, friendly email to everyone saying something like "I'm looking forward to working with everyone here. Just to avoid any confusion, I will be changing my surname to Jones, but my first name will always remain Janet, not James!"

[FlyingBaconMouse]

Sending an email about the upcoming name change is helpful. But putting "Mrs James Jones" would make me feel like I'd stepped back in time. Names (and Janet's, not her husbands!) without the titles would be more appropriate. TBH I would wonder if the person was have gender reassignment surgery before I would click that's the husbands name, I actually thought there was an error in the OP!

POD. No one in a work environment has any need to know Janet's fiancé's name.

That said, I am glad they sent out some sort of announcement: one of my coworkers in another department was recently married, and when I first saw her married name CCed on an e-mail, I almost addressed her as a client. Fortunately, I eventually realized that "Marian Smith" might just have turned into "Marian Lowell" at the same time she was out of the office on her honeymoon. 

[Dindrane]

OP, I would personally send a brief, friendly email to everyone saying something like "I'm looking forward to working with everyone here. Just to avoid any confusion, I will be changing my surname to Jones, but my first name will always remain Janet, not James!"

In the hypothetical situation, I was HR, not Janet.   I never said anything to anyone in follow-up to that email, and neither did anyone else.  Once the email was sent, trying to address the "Mrs. James Jones" part of it would have turned it into a Thing.

I also know I react rather strongly to this specific type of situation (which was part of the reason I wanted to know what all of you thought about it), and even just based on this thread, I'd imagine a lot of people took mental note of the information in the email and forgot about it.  In the end, it probably wasn't that big a deal even for the new employee.

[CuriousParty]

Since this scenario is based on a real one I encountered a little while back, I will say that I cringed a bit when I saw the email.  It never became a "thing," at least that I was aware of, but it made me wonder if anyone had actually checked with Janet before sending out the information about her upcoming marriage in that specific way.  Typically, new employees don't see these types of announcements until they've actually been sent out, so it's possible nobody checked with her in advance.

CuriousParty, I definitely agree that tying her name change into her introductory email is helpful for everyone who will be working with her.  I just wonder at the specific use of "Mrs. James Jones," rather than saying "Janet Smith, soon to be Janet Jones" or something similar.

Oh. Hm.  You know, I just skimmed right over the fact that it was "Mrs. James Jones" and read it as "Mrs. Janet Jones", which I know is technically not correct, but that's how I read it.

I personally dislike the "Mrs. Hisfirstname Theirlastname" construction, so I wouldn't be thrilled if this were referring to me, personally.  However, I can see the bind the person constructing the email was in ("If I just put Janet Jones everyone will wonder, and if I put Mrs. Janet Jones that's not correct....what to do?!")  I also know that there are some professions where the "Mrs." v. "Ms." or "Miss" is VERY important, and in those professions the formal etiquette is still observed. 

So I guess ultimately I'd probably roll my eyes at the construction that I personally dislike, but ignore that in favor of processing the relevant information.  If I even noticed.  Which it appears I wouldn't