Why I’m changing my name

It’s pretty normal to change your name when you get a divorce. However, what do you do when your name is also your personal brand, your pen name and moniker?

That was the question I faced when I divorced, so I didn’t change my name. It all seemed too hard.

However, a year or so later my ex-husband remarried and his wife took on his name. After that, it just seemed weird to keep it.

So, this year, when I started writing my new book, “Being Game,” I decided it was time to do a total rebrand.

I’ve been called “Cas” as a nickname since high school, but truth be told, I’ve never liked that name. It was easy to say with a longer last name but now that I’m choosing a new last name, it’s also an opportunity to change what people call me.

So, early last year I started asking people to either call me “Caroline,” my proper name or “Cara,” a name I am completely familiar with being called now.

Choosing a New Name

Growing up my last name was “Sag.” When I looked into my family history, it was clear that there was no reason for the existence of this name. In Hungarian, it isn’t even a word but rather the end of a word like the “ed” on ended. My great grandparents had chosen this name after they were allowed to take on Hungarian names (previously…