I recently changed my official surname. As a result, I got into a renaming spree, changing my name in various services, official documents, and even this domain.

Renaming things in general isn’t that big of a deal. In day-to-day work, things get renamed all the time. But when you have called something your entire life, it can be hard to adjust to a new surname. I still find myself answering the phone using my old surname and having to explain why my surname and email do not match.

Of all the things I have renamed, the email address is the one that has been the hardest to change. I have had the same email address since gmail launched and now switching to a new address seems daunting. Ideally the old email could be used for signups and accounts, and the new one for “real” communication.

I’m unclear on how to handle this. Perhaps I need to set up a rule based auto-forward from my old email address to my new one for a while and figure this out in practice.