A Brief Guide to My Name

My name is Ruth Kitchin Tillman.

It should be alphabetized and indexed Tillman, Ruth Kitchin.

My name is not hyphenated.

Kitchin is my original last name.

Kitchin is (legally) my middle name.

You can call me Ruth Tillman, that’s fine.

Ruth K. Tillman works too.

Ms. Tillman, not Mrs., please. Mrs. Tillman is my mother-in-law. She has been in my life for decades.

I changed my last name to Tillman because I got so very tired of spelling “Kitchin” to people. Tillman is pretty easy to spell.

I kept Kitchin as my middle name as a tie to my family.

I had a perfectly fine middle name, but it didn’t sound great with Tillman.

“Ruth Kitchin Tillman” should be unique.

Having had this name for 12 years now, I think it’s unlikely I’ll ever change it again. It seems like too much work.

When I get old, I will be like my grandmother Tangerine and change it to Ruth Bright-Needle.