What’s in a name?

If you would have asked me six months ago what my plans were especially following a divorce, I’d tell you I wasn’t making any plans.

After surviving such a destabilizing series of events that required me to evolve everything from grocery shopping habits to my living and work spaces while becoming a custodial parent, I’d tell you my focus was simply on remaining grounded. At some point our survival needs softened and so did I.

Making new friends and spending greater time with mentors, through conversations and supportive processing, I discovered I had strong feelings about the value of building a legacy and the importance of names.

Data suggests that building an intentional legacy—defined as a purposeful life review and the deliberate transfer of values, wisdom, and artifacts—benefits both the individual in the present and the recipients in the future. Researching intentional legacy creation acts as a "dignity-conserving intervention" shows that while this work is often reserved for individuals facing life-threatening illnesses or end-of-life care, the process of documenting experiences and virtues serves several measurable impacts.

One is a life review — It pushes self-boundaries through introspection and has been a helpful part of my process as I’ve reconciled past regrets with current realities. Two is it increases self-trust and dignity. Mapping out an intentional legacy enhances deeper self-trust, a sense of dignity and life meaning, it has allowed me to embrace focusing on living even though life looks different than I thought it would. Three is it has provided me peaceful preparation by ensuring important life issues are resolved and communicated to loved ones.

In professional contexts, research showed me how intentional legacy building is being applied to sustainability and the "circular economy." An example is the Legacy Living Lab, which showcases how intentionality in building design can have significant environmental data points like reducing emissions by designing buildings for disassembly and material reuse (intentional legacy of materials) saving tons of construction material. With this intentional approach also equating to an 88% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions compared to standard building industry practices.

For businesses and health systems, "legacy data" is shifting from a compliance burden to a strategic asset. Being intentional about retaining and making this data searchable—rather than just archiving it in static PDFs—drives better clinical decision-making and innovation. Active archives of legacy data help minimize billing denials and maximize reimbursement rates, directly impacting financial health.

Intentionality moves individuals from "obligatory giving" to "transformative giving." With intentional legacy planning allowing donors to move away from reactive responses to appeals and instead align time and financial abundance with any specific visions for community change.

Read more from the National Library of Medicine on Commemorative Naming.

I learned from my mentors, how names are a constant, living embodiment of our legacies and it got me thinking: What kind of legacy can I even build if I hold on to names from people who’ve taken so much?

I knew I was long overdue for something fresh and fun.

My friend asked, how good could life really get? And it helped me get to my next question, what do I even want to create now, after I’ve had to burn everything down?

How do I start over from ashes?

Now this question I knew, intimately, especially after starting Collective Harts Project inspired by our son, Deacon Hart. Talking with one of my friends who is a mom and another who's transgender, both ignited new ideas. I started asking myself all the questions including, could I really change my name? Now?!

I hadn’t even considered it yet. I had built an entire career with my old names. 

Some of the most important work I’ve been part of so far were under these names…did I want to have a different last name than our daughter? Our dog? What could this new name even be?

I started like so many of my best projects with a blank page.

And decided if I were going to go through the work of changing my name (again), it would have to be something I absolutely loved and moved me up in the alphabet (ha! duh!)

I made a list of all possible new last names after deciding I wouldn’t be keeping either my married or maiden names. I shared some of these new names with trusted friends and colleagues. I also told my website designer I wanted no last name and yes, I knew it would make branding challenging. As someone skilled in strategic reputation management, I was ready to take myself on this ride.

Watching a TikTok creator one evening before our divorce was final, a woman shared that she asked the judge directly for a new name change and it significantly cut down on wasted time and logistics. I hadn’t even considered doing it this way.

So I did some more research.

On the day our divorce was final when the judge asked me if there was anything else he could do, I asked about the new name change and only one name came up…Hart!

Proud to re-introduce you to me: Linsey Hart.

As you can imagine, I’m still getting use to it and updating all the things. It is feeling new, overwhelming, uncomfortable, and right. Huge thanks to those of you who workshopped names and participated in this fun rebranding process with me. I’m just getting started and thrilled to have you here along for the ride.

Want to read more or have something to share? Let me know. For more details on the process, read more on my new Substack.