So, after finally divorcing Ashley Cole, Cheryl Cole, er, Tweedy is now going back to using her maiden name. Granted, Tweedy isn’t nearly as catching as Cole, but at least girlfriend isn’t using Ashley's name anymore.
The Daily Mail point out that this sudden name change isn’t exactly a good time, considering she’s still prmoting the hell out of her debut solo album, and if people in the US hadn’t heard of a “Cheryl Cole” before, they’re going to be even more confused by “Cheryl Tweedy”.
While I have chosen not to change my last name after getting married, I know a lot of friends who have. Obviously, I respect their decision because as a modern lady, you have the right to do whatever you want with your last name with out people being all judgey-wudgey about it. (In theory, anyway...)
However, I’m always surprised when celebrities and musicians change the name they were famous for after getting married. Surely, as a business/brand/persona, your name is the most important thing. And when you go changing it, it confuses people. People aren’t going to want to keep track of what name you’re using these days, and if you’re trying to break in to a new market, flaunting a CD with one name on it, and all of your new promotional materials using another...well, it doesn’t sound very good, does it?
As a celebrity, or even just as someone who owns their own business, if you’re going to change your name, why not change your name privately – passports, drivers licenses, etc – and then keep using your maiden/more popular name for public use? Why put the name your worked so hard for people to remember in to jeopardy?
If you get married, change your name, and then get divorced and change it back, you're just adding an unnecessary amount of attention not only to the status of your relationship. Plus, if you're a celebrity, you're only causing further attention to be drawn away from your, uh, "talent", and placing it firmly back in to your personal life.
Never mind what this will do to your Google search results!
Google: "By CHERYL COLE did you mean CHERYL TWEEDY?"
Frustrated man looking for photos of Cheryl: "NO, dammit. Who is Cheryl TWEEDY?!"
However, despite it possibly being a bad business decision, going back to "Tweedy" is probably a big statement for where Cheryl is at mentally, and if going back to her roots is what she needs, than I can get behind that decision.
But don't even get me started on that bloody tattoo.